Google Criticizes Australia’s Social Media Ban for Under-16s as Difficult and Ineffective

Alphabet-owned Google has warned that Australia’s upcoming social media ban for people under 16 will be “extremely difficult” to enforce and unlikely to make children safer online. The law, set to take effect in December 2024, makes Australia the first country to prohibit social media use by minors under 16.

Under the new Online Safety Amendment, platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram must deactivate accounts belonging to underage users by December 10. Instead of requiring official age verification, the government will rely on artificial intelligence and behavioral data to estimate users’ ages — an approach that major tech companies argue is unreliable and invasive.

During a parliamentary hearing on Monday, YouTube’s senior manager of government affairs in Australia, Rachel Lord, said the law, while well-intentioned, could have “unintended consequences.” She emphasized that enforcement would be “extremely difficult” and questioned whether it would achieve the goal of protecting children.

“The legislation will not only be difficult to enforce, it also doesn’t fulfill its promise of making kids safer online,” Lord stated. She argued that true online safety depends on empowering parents and improving digital safety tools rather than restricting internet access.

Google Australia’s government affairs director, Stef Lovett, added that the company’s U.S. team is aware of the challenges and may discuss them with officials during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.

Australia added YouTube to the list of covered platforms in July 2024 after initially exempting it due to its educational use. Google maintains that YouTube is primarily a video-sharing platform, not a social media site.

Lord concluded that effective child protection “comes from collaboration, education, and smart regulation — not by keeping kids offline.”