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¡¯s YouTube. Officials this summer 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.
Australia¡¯s online regulator said it was the most-used social media platform for the nation¡¯s youth (and claimed it¡¯s the biggest source of online harms, from misogynistic content to violent videos). But it has also been a springboard for young creators, especially from marginalized groups, to find community and even launch multimillion-dollar careers. YouTube is where Grammy-nominated singer Troye Sivan first gained popularity, posting covers of pop songs and vlogs as a teen in Perth ¡ª and where he publicly came out as gay in 2013.
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