Labor reverses earlier decision to exempt Google-owned platform from national social media youth ban in move communications minister says will make ‘positive difference’

Children will be banned from having YouTube accounts from December, with the federal government backflipping on an earlier decision to exempt the video platform from the national under-16s social media restrictions.

The decision, to be confirmed by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the communications minister, Anika Wells, on Wednesday, is likely to set off a furious reaction from the Google-owned YouTube, which will hold a major event for politicians in Parliament House on Wednesday night.

YouTube argued it operated differently to other platforms and had been given an exemption to the world-leading under-16s social media ban by the former communications minister Michelle Rowland. But newly installed minister Wells has taken advice from the eSafety commissioner that the video platform should be included in the rules as it poses a threat to young people.

“The Albanese government is giving kids a reprieve from the persuasive and pervasive pull of social media while giving parents peace of mind,” Wells said, in announcing the move.

“There’s a place for social media, but there’s not a place for predatory algorithms targeting children.”

YouTube will be included as one of the age-restricted social media platforms, alongside Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and others. Last month, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, citing a survey of 2,600 children, said nearly four in 10 children had reported exposure to harmful content on YouTube – “the most frequently cited platform in our research”.

Inman Grant noted that children would still be able to view YouTube videos when logged out as the legislation was limited to preventing children from having accounts.

The under-16s ban comes into force in December, with platforms to face fines of up to $49.5m if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to stop children from opening accounts.

Some major tech platforms have privately raised concerns about a lack of information about what they must to do to meet the “reasonable steps” test, including what new barriers or verification methods they must add to their services. The government is expected to share more information and guidance about such steps in coming months.