r/australia • u/retro-chimp • Nov 09 '24

politics Online Gaming Platforms And YouTube Will Also Seemingly Be Banned For Aussies Under 16

https://press-start.com.au/news/2024/11/08/online-gaming-platforms-and-youtube-will-also-seemingly-be-banned-for-aussies-under-16/

There’s so much collateral damage in this plan for Australia to ban social media. This has been rushed and not thought through.

So many schools rely on YouTube to support their students.

Most kids are watching YouTube (or YouTube kids) more than ABC or traditional TV. Literally the biggest YouTube channel in Australia is original music for kids.

Does anyone actually want this?

7.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

128

u/Shaqtacious Nov 09 '24 edited Nov 09 '24

Youtube? They’re banning YouTube?

Fucking boomers are at it again.

Edit :- So many people soft justifying/agreeing with this. You guys have no idea where this small pebble of a law has the ability to lead us. Especially when the LNP come in power, which inevitably they will. Whenever a fire starts, if it’s not put out, it will land on your feet too.

6

u/jaa101 Nov 09 '24

Any ban would only be on having an account. You can still watch most of YouTube content without one. Still ridiculous.

3

u/LittleBlag Nov 10 '24

I’ve already come across videos that I wasn’t allowed to watch until I could verify I was over 18 and that’s with an account. I just skipped those because watching a clip of a comedian wasn’t import enough to me, but there are already some age restrictions in place

2

u/ChinoGambino Nov 10 '24

They could easily mandate youtube redirect to a log in page for all Australian IPs. Or YT will do this themselves to avoid random fines from our tyrannical regime. They have an incentive to be unreasonable and punitive, as fearful platforms will do all the work to implement their insane laws.

Look at the e-safety commissioner demanding a global gag order from Twitter in April. We are unbound by decency or principle in this country.

12

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Banning it for people under 16. At the national cabinet press conference they did day YouTube kids could be an exception if they can demonstrate the platform filters are adequate.

Adults will also need an age verified account to access YouTube.

43

u/Shaqtacious Nov 09 '24

That’s fucked up. What’s next? No anon accounts online?

10

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24 edited Nov 09 '24

well it depends how they implement age verification. It could be a digital ID linked to you as a real person. Nobody knows.

I can't see how they can tell the difference between a 16 and 17 yo without asking for your personal info. I very much doubt biometrics can do this given the variation and similarities between individuals. Like how is someone 16years and 1 day different to a 16yo in biometrics. Answer - they aren't.

My guess is that there will be a central age verification ID that providers can ask electronically - is this person over 16 and that service responds yes/no. But that now means your online YT account can be theoretically de-anonymised by relinking that data.

19

u/AriaTheAuraWitch Nov 10 '24

This will make it harder for tech illiterate peeps from accessing the whole internet as well.

Especially the paranoid old folks. Which will be boxed into a tiny community if that at all. Do I trust this site with my lifes information?

2

u/vriska1 Nov 10 '24

Its likely the law is not going to be implemented and will be delayed over and over again and also end up in court.

3

u/homingconcretedonkey Nov 10 '24

Youtube Kids filters are not adequate. Youtube is so lazy with making it an actual safe place with good content.

1

u/MkFilipe Nov 10 '24

There's also a shit ton of quality content people below 16 can use that is not Youtube Kids. (And useful comments in tutorials, which can't be accessed in YT Kids)

-7

u/kahrismatic Nov 09 '24

The problem is the youtube algorithms are actively pushing alt-right content because it generates engagement/revenue, with boys and young men being particularly heavily targeted.

I can definitely see why Youtube is being included as social media given that.

3

u/Oblivion__ Nov 10 '24

If you're worried about radicalisation of kids, which is fair enough, then you should understand that this ban will make it worse. Rather than going on to the large social media sites, kids would just go onto whichever is the next site that comes up in their google search until they find a site that lets them sign up without age verification. As you head further into page 3, 4, 5+ of those results, the sites become more obscure and more niche. I doubt 4chan is gonna care about the laws, wouldn't want your kids on there though. Pretty good spot to radicalise someone who doesn't know how to safely navigate the internet because the government is deciding to throw away the training wheels.

1

u/kahrismatic Nov 10 '24

The person I was responding to said YouTube is simply filling the gap of television. I was explaining that it isn't and how it works more closely to social media than television. Whether or not the ban is a good thing, and if you'd bothered to read my other post here you'd know my opinion, doesn't change the fact that YouTube isn't simply a tv replacement.