Kathmandu. Children under the age of 16 will not be able to open a YouTube account in Australia from December 10. However, they will be able to use YouTube i.e. watch videos on YouTube. Australia’s Communications Minister Anika Wells gave this information.
In November last year, Australia passed a bill to ban social media for children under the age of 16. These included platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. YouTube was then exempted from this law. Australia is the first country in the world to do so.
There is no exemption in this law for parental consent or pre-existing accounts. The platform will work out how to enforce the ban for one year from the date the law came into force.
There is no ban on gaming and messaging apps Social media platforms will be responsible for ensuring that children of this age cannot create accounts on the platform. If this is not done, the platforms could be fined 50 million Australian dollars.
However, platform users do not have to upload documents such as passport and driving license to prove their age. Online gaming, messaging, education and health apps are out of this ban. These are considered to be less harmful to children.
YouTube said, “We share the government’s goal of reducing and preventing online harm. Our stand is clear that YouTube is a video sharing platform. It has a collection of free, high-quality content. It has also been watched on TV. It’s not a social network. We will consider our next steps and talk to the government. ’
