Canberra, July 30 -- Australia will include YouTube in its world-first social media ban for children younger than 16 after initially granting the platform an exemption, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
Albanese and Anika Wells, the minister for communications, said at a press conference in Canberra on Wednesday that the federal government has accepted a recommendation from its online safety regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, to include YouTube in the social media ban.
YouTube was initially granted an exemption from the ban, which will come into effect from Dec. 10, due to its education and health content, but eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in formal advice to the government in June that the platform exposes ...