Social Social media, YouTube and Games banned for under 16 in Australia. ID required

[MacGregor]

Unsurprisingly, Babet either hasn't read, doesn't understand or is lying about the legislation. The law doesn't ban kids from watching Youtube, just self publishing on Youtube on a personal account (or commenting etc that requires a personal account). Youtube doesn't require an account to watch content.

That's not true either. None of the laws are in effect yet, but age verification will certainly come into effect for Pornhub come December, as it has in the US states with local age verification laws.

Not that I expect any of this legislation to be effective with even moderately technically competent kids, and there's zero chance of Australia implementing a China style "Great Firewall of Australia" without reversing course on the last 30+ years of privatisation (are they going to jam Starlink like Russia in Ukraine?).

 

[Ruprecht]

Yes, not allowing under 16s to have an account doesn't stop them watching Youtube as Babet said. It prevents them from being able to comment (both on live feeds and regular comments) or publish videos.
Assuming of course they don't just bypass it.

 

[HereticBD]

Yes, not allowing under 16s to have an account doesn't stop them watching Youtube as Babet said. It prevents them from being able to comment (both on live feeds and regular comments) or publish videos.
Assuming of course they don't just bypass it.

She's not being completely honest, as it will also lock them out of a whole bunch of content. There are, albeit very inconsistent, age restrictions on a lot of videos that you need to be signed in to access. Not just crazy ass videos found in the deepest depths of the platform either. Certain news stories will even be flagged. Videos with a bit too much swearing in them will get flagged. A video game review that shows some violence from the game will get flagged.

They will basically be on a slightly less restrictive version of Youtube Kids.

 

[Ruprecht]

She's not being completely honest, as it will also lock them out of a whole bunch of content. There are, albeit very inconsistent, age restrictions on a lot of videos that you need to be signed in to access. Not just crazy ass videos found in the deepest depths of the platform either. Certain news stories will even be flagged. Videos with a bit too much swearing in them will get flagged. A video game review that shows some violence from the game will get flagged.

They will basically be on a slightly less restrictive version of Youtube Kids.

I don't watch children's content, and someone here informed me previously that there are age restrictions in place already for some "18+" flagged content. They had to provide an example for me to check as I've never encountered it with any of the content I watch. I thought it was interesting that my account wasn't automatically allowed despite being more than 18 years old.
I also don't know about that including videos with a bit too much swearing, unless they turned that off for Australian youtubers.
I do agree with the criticism that the degree of protection provided for children by this measure is unlikely to outweigh the harm to the privacy and anonymity of adult users. I won't be verifying my age via 3rd party or otherwise.
I also agree that the Government flipflopped hard on Youtube, but I see that as more an issue of how little actual evaluation and competent planning seems to be involved.
The idea of the restrictions "stopping kids from watching youtube" or stunting their education seems completely ridiculous though.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

Lol so you just get people using VPNs or people making fake accounts or someone will come up with a chrome plugin to bypass this shit.

I already have a plugin that allows me to watch age restricted content without an account right now.

 

[The_Renaissance]

I saw a debate on this in the UK regarding our own internet laws they've just passed and someone made a great point - if the UK government are going to allow under 18's to vote at the next election, they should have the right to watch whatever the fuck content they like on the internet.