Cecilia Robinson: Before 16 co-chair on Australia extending the under-16 social media ban to YouTube

Australia is extending its under-16s social media ban to YouTube.

Legislation passed last year excluded blocking the video-sharing service, because of its role in education and children’s entertainment.

The ban covered Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

The  co-chair of child online safety advocacy group, Before 16, Cecilia Robinson says YouTube is as big a part of social media as other platforms - and should have always been on the list.

"YouTube, and specifically YouTube shorts, operate in the same way as TikTok does. So why they had an exemption in the first place is mind-boggling."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Turns out the Australian government is now considering not only
banning the under sixteens from social media, but from YouTube
as well. They're still going to be able to watch it,
they just won't be able to set up an account
or interact on it. Cecilia Robinson is the co chair
of the Child Online Safety Advocacy group Before sixteen is
with us now, Cecilia, Hello, Hi, So despite the ban,

(00:20):
they're basically going to be able to use it.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Aren't they? Well, look, I don't think that that's the
case at all, And you know, to be completely frank,
you know, this limitation on the plan that they are
doing on YouTube should have included from the start and
should have been what they should have looked at originally
in Australia because the problem with youtubeer is that it's
just like every other social media platform, just like Snapchat,
just like TikTok, just like Instagram in the way that

(00:43):
people are creating user generated content and the way that
the algorithms work. So no, it definitely needs to be
properly managed as well.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, but I mean if they are able to, if
they can still view it, then can't they still succumb
to the dangers of it.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
So children are going to be able to use YouTube
kits and so as far as I understand the way
that this legislation is going to work, which is in
the same way that Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube Instagram are going
to all be treated in the same way. So YouTube shorts, yeah,
but that's not going to be viewed in some kids.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Only if they log in, right, So you don't have
to log into YouTube, you can just you can watch
it without logging, and in which case you can watch
the adult version, can't you.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
And look, that's where it's going to be really interesting
to see how this legislation evolves, right and see how
they actually get to that granular detail, because clearly what
we're trying to do is prevent young people from seeing
harmful content online. And so when you bring it back
to what the problem here is is that you're seeing
young kids as young as six being exposed to things
like violent pornography without even searching for it. And so

(01:44):
I think that this is a starting point. I think
it's fantastic that Australia is, you know, now accepting that
YouTube is also a social media platform which has been
all along, and actually accepting that there needs to be
appropriate boundaries in place for that.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
From Mike, this lady is crazy, I've got four kids.
YouTube is not social media.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, look, it's a really clear cut case here. When
you look at how social media is defined by things
like algorithmic feeds, content virility, live streaming and stories and
just addictive nature of social media which has been provided
through TikTok and for YouTube, you can see that this

(02:25):
is social media. It's pretty plain and simple. And when
you look at platforms that you compare, for example, TikTok too,
which has also been defined previously in this legislation in Australia,
YouTube and specifically YouTube shorts operate in the same way
as TikTok does, so why they had an exemption in
the first place is mind boggling because they operate the
same way.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, Cecilia, thank you, appreciate your time. Cecilia Robinson before
sixteen co chair. For more from Heather Duplessy Alan Drive,
listen live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
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