Australia to include YouTube in ban on child social media ban
The Labor government announced Wednesday that YouTube, will be age-limited just like social media platforms will be starting in December, when new legislation goes into effect that bans children under 16 from using them.
"Protecting kids online means taking on some tough problems, so we're banning social media accounts for under 16s," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted to X late Tuesday.
"Young Australians will benefit from three more years free from algorithms, to grow, to connect and to build resilience in the real world," he also said in the post.
The ban puts the main pressure on the platforms themselves to keep underage kids offline, or risk fines as high as $32 million.
"The way these platforms are built can harm children while they're still finding their own way," Albanese also posted.
"We share the government's goal of addressing and reducing online harms," said a statement posted on Australia's Google Blog on Tuesday.
YouTube is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, which expressed disappointment about the impending restrictions in the statement, which also alleged that the inclusion of YouTube "reverses a clear, public commitment to exclude YouTube from this ban."
"We will consider next steps and will continue to engage with the government," it also said.
The decision to include YouTube in the ban was influenced by a survey released by Australia's eSafety Commission earlier this month, which found 37% of children surveyed had reported seeing harmful content on the site.
According to the Commission's website, the law "puts the onus on social media platforms, not parents or children, to take reasonable steps to ensure fundamental protections for under 16s are in place."
The expectation, as per the Commission, will require social media platform to take steps that include "implementing appropriate age assurance mechanisms."
Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said in a video posted to Facebook Wednesday that the legislation, known as Online Safety Act 2021, was born from a request "by an army of 150,000 parents."
"Today, the Albanese government again shows its commitment to putting families at the heart of our decision making, tabling the rules of Australia's world-leading age-minimum social media laws," Wells continued.
Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
14 minutes ago
- UPI
Trump, Carney expected to talk trade in coming days
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seen here with President Donald Trump during a G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, on June 16, 2025. The two leaders are expected to talk trade in the next coming days, according to an Ottawa official. Photo via G7/UPI | License Photo Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada are expected in the coming days to talk trade, according to Ottawa's U.S.-Canada trade minister. "I would expect the prime minister will have a conversation with the president in the coming days," Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said during an interview with CBS' Face The Nation on Sunday, after Trump on Thursday increased tariffs on goods from the Great White North not under the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement from 25% to 35% amid trade negotiations between the two countries. Relations between the once strong partners have frayed under the Trump administration, which has repeatedly imposed tariffs on Canada as punishment over alleged fentanyl making its way into the United States over their shared border and in an attempt to right what the U.S. president sees as an unfair trade relationship. Trump has also publicly toyed with the idea of annexing Canada. Canada has responded with retaliatory tariffs of its own, while also seeking to strengthen relationships elsewhere and lessening its dependency on the United States. It has also rebutted the accusation that it is contributing to the United States' opioid crisis, as Carney pointed out in a statement Friday that it accounts for only 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports while implementing policies to continue reducing that amount. "We were obviously disappointed by that decision," LeBlanc said Sunday, referring to the imposition of additional tariffs on Thursday amid ongoing trade negotiations. "We believe there's a great deal of common ground between the United States and Canada in terms of building two strong economies that work well together. That's been the history of the 40-year free trade agreement that goes back to [U.S. President Roland] Reagan." Trump imposed tariffs of 10% on dozens of nations that had not worked out trade deals with the U.S. president beforehand. Canada was in the middle of talks with the United States when the new levies were announced. LeBlanc added that they are "pleased" the United States is "respecting" the terms of the USMCA as the tariffs do not affect goods that fall under that agreement. "That's vital, we think, to the cost of living and affordability, certainly in the United States," he said. He was speaking to Face The Nation from Moncton, N.B., but had been in Washington working on a deal, and he left Washington "with a better understanding of the American concerns in the trading relationship." "So, we're prepared to stick around and do the work needed," he said. "We remain very optimistic."
Business Insider
15 minutes ago
- Business Insider
I broke into tech after being a stay-at-home mom with no prior experience. Now I have my dream job and a stable income for my kids.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Stacey Lokey-Day, a 37-year-old security operations analyst at Wiz, based in Georgia. The following has been edited for length and clarity. I got married at 20 and started a family really young. My husband was in the National Guard, and I was a stay-at-home mom, and then our marriage ended. At 29 years old, I was single and had two small boys. Reentering the workforce, I knew I needed to make $15 an hour, which is about $30,000 a year. I enrolled in a cybersecurity boot camp, and when I got my first contracting position, I made about three times that amount. Two years later, I hit my six-figure salary mark. I picked cybersecurity because the opportunity was there Before getting into cybersecurity, I worked as a 911 communications officer for six months. I was barely making enough to make ends meet. I was unhappy, stressed out, and it was not a good fit. The area where I live is close to a military base, and on Facebook, people said that if you get the proper certification, you could work on the base and make good money as a cybersecurity contractor. I looked online and found a cybersecurity boot camp that could be taken virtually. I was then committed to landing a job in cyber. Thinking about entering the workforce in tech was a little crazy Boot camps have had a bad reputation for being scammy, but I didn't really have a choice. Some places have 24-week boot camps, which claim to teach you everything. Some of them guarantee that they'll help you land a job. I'm a little bit older, and I wanted a career, so I was determined to make this work. I looked at the local colleges. I ideally wanted to find one close to me and a reputable name, and Georgia Tech had one. Growing my LinkedIn presence helped me launch my career My boot camp professor told us cybersecurity is a small field, and we needed to network. I knew no one, and I thought about what I could do. One of the things I could do was use LinkedIn. I would share what I was learning in boot camp to look like a real candidate in the cybersecurity field. A lot of those early posts were bumpy, reposts, or two-liners. I would also attend webinars and message the presenter on LinkedIn afterward and say, "Hey, I really appreciated your webinar, or I saw your video on YouTube. I really liked it." Slowly, that helped me gain more credibility because I was then connected to these prominent speakers. A recruiter reached out to me after seeing my posts I started my boot camp in February and was set to graduate in August. I started applying to places in July, and I was getting some interviews but not landing anything. I was still posting that I'm looking for my first job, that I bombed an interview, or about other career journey experiences. At one point, a recruiter messaged me, and two phone calls later, they offered me a junior phishing contract position, which included analyzing emails to determine if they were benign or malicious. My original goal was to get a job on base, but I needed a paycheck, and I realized I could just leverage this opportunity into something more. Ultimately, it worked out. I worked 12-hour night shifts, and it was brutal. But I leveraged that nighttime experience to talk with and learn from other team members because nights were quieter. Ultimately, after three months, I was able to secure a full-time job with that company. I'm now happily employed, but I still post on LinkedIn After I was hired full-time, I was promoted to an associate security operations center analyst and then became a career security operations analyst. Then I reached a point where I wanted more. I saw this opportunity at Wiz, a cloud security company, on LinkedIn, and because I always stay ready, I had my résumé prepped and applied immediately. I didn't know anybody at Wiz or have a referral; I just applied. I was able to land the first and second interviews and eventually get that offer. I'm now happily employed at the company as a security operations analyst, but I still post on LinkedIn. The tech market changes so fast, so I think it's really important to keep showing up for yourself and for the future career that you want. Even if you're happy right now, you don't know what's going to happen in the future.
Business Upturn
43 minutes ago
- Business Upturn
ZIM Laboratories secures marketing authorization in Australia for urology drug combination
By Aditya Bhagchandani Published on August 4, 2025, 13:55 IST ZIM Laboratories Limited has received marketing authorization from Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for its fixed-dose combination capsules of Tamsulosin Hydrochloride and Dutasteride. The approval was granted to ZIMTAS Pty Ltd, ZIM's wholly owned subsidiary in Australia, and marks the company's second marketing clearance in the region. This milestone strengthens ZIM's presence in the regulated Australian market and aligns with its broader global expansion strategy. The combination drug is used to treat moderate to severe symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in adult men, offering improved patient convenience by integrating two active agents into a single daily dose. ZIM stated that this authorization will facilitate the product's commercial launch in Australia and bolster its regulatory filings across the APAC region and other global markets. The company emphasized that this approval contributes to its growing urology segment and enhances its portfolio of differentiated generics through advanced drug delivery technologies. Disclaimer: The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Stock market investments are subject to market risks. Always conduct your own research or consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions. Author or Business Upturn is not liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aditya Bhagchandani serves as the Senior Editor and Writer at Business Upturn, where he leads coverage across the Business, Finance, Corporate, and Stock Market segments. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to journalistic integrity, he not only contributes insightful articles but also oversees editorial direction for the reporting team.
