Credit: Christian Wiediger via Unsplash.
Google’s YouTube has moved to require viewers to be 16 or older to sign on to the video platform ahead of the December 10 ban on children.
YouTube says the regulation misunderstands our platform, the way young Australians use it and it does not fulfill its promise to make children safer online.
Key changes effective December 10 include that viewers must now be 16 or older to sign into YouTube.
“This means that anyone under 16 will be automatically signed out on December 10 and lose access to features that only work when you are signed into an account, including subscriptions, playlists and likes, and default wellbeing settings like ‘Take a Break’” and Bedtime Reminders,” Google said in a blog.
“Viewers can continue to watch YouTube while signed out. We determine a user’s age based on the age associated with their Google account and other signals and will continue to explore how we implement and apply appropriate age assurance.
Parents will lose the ability to supervise their teen or tween’s account on YouTube, as these accounts only work when they are signed in.
That means parents will no longer be able to use any controls they have set up, such as choosing an appropriate content setting or blocking specific channels. YouTube Kids is not affected.
Creators under 16 will no longer be able to sign in to YouTube, upload videos or manage their channels and their channels will no longer be viewable.
“We’ve invested for more than a decade in consultation with child development experts to build age-appropriate products for our youngest users, like YouTube Kids, supervised experiences for teens and tweens, default wellbeing settings for all teens and robust parental controls,” Google said.
From December 10, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch must ban under 16s.
Meta last month started the process of removing access to Instagram, Threads, and Facebook for teens under 16.
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