Banning Teens From YouTube Won’t Keep Them Safe
Australia’s plans to prevent under-16s from accessing social media is missing the point.
A social media ban is not the solution.
Photographer: William West/AFP/Getty Images
Keeping young people safe online is a rallying cry we can all get behind. But the furor in Australia over plans to ban children under 16 from social media shows it’s not as simple as it sounds.
At the center of the latest debate over the rules set to come into effect later this year is Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube. Officials last week said they were reversing a promised exemption from the legislation for the video-sharing site. Part of the reason YouTube’s inclusion has struck such a nerve is because it’s impossible to overstate how intertwined it has become with pop culture for a generation who grew up on it.