{"id":818804,"date":"2025-01-10T10:13:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/australias-teen-social-media-ban-loophole-means-kids-can-still-use-tiktok-and-youtube-shorts\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T10:13:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:13:57","slug":"australias-teen-social-media-ban-loophole-means-kids-can-still-use-tiktok-and-youtube-shorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/australias-teen-social-media-ban-loophole-means-kids-can-still-use-tiktok-and-youtube-shorts\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s teen social media ban loophole means kids can still use TikTok and YouTube Shorts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Australia\u2019s teen social media ban won\u2019t require TikTok or YouTube to stop children from using their algorithmically driven short-video platforms, significantly undermining the government\u2019s major motivations for the policy.<\/p>\n

Experiments by Crikey<\/em> show that TikTok and YouTube Shorts users are algorithmically recommended videos by both platforms without needing to log in \u2014 meaning that these services won\u2019t be affected by the Albanese government\u2019s bill which seeks to regulate only logged-in users.<\/p>\n

Among the government\u2019s justifications for a blanket ban on children under the age of 16 using social media are fears about the impact of social media algorithms on young Australians.<\/p>\n

In August, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned<\/a> it as one of the major reasons that his government was pushing for the trial of technologies for a teen social media ban: \u201cThe algorithms push people towards more extremes and they reinforce views, so that some people think that if they\u2019re logging on for a particular view, it will continue to put that forward as if that is the only view, and it will reinforce prejudices which are there,\u201d he said. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has echoed<\/a> this view.<\/p>\n

Both Albanese and Rowland have also cited a desire to get children off their phones as motivating the ban, specifically citing TikTok as one of the applications that will be restricted.<\/p>\n

But the government\u2019s proposed legislation, Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 [Provisions]<\/a>, will leave two of the most popular, algorithmically driven social media platforms accessible to Australians of all ages.<\/p>\n

The loophole comes from the legislation\u2019s focus on requiring platforms to take \u201creasonable steps\u201d to ensure that only logged-in users are not under the age of 16: \u201cA provider of such a platform must take reasonable steps to prevent children who have not reached a minimum age from having accounts,\u201d says the amendment. Stopping children from having accounts on TikTok or YouTube Shorts will restrict their ability to post videos, comment, like or message other users.<\/p>\n

However, neither TikTok nor YouTube Shorts require users to be logged in to watch videos on mobile devices, meaning that any person \u2014 of any age \u2014 with an iPhone or Android is still able to use the platforms to watch videos.<\/p>\n

Additionally, experiments by Crikey<\/em> suggest that logged-out TikTok and YouTube Shorts users are served videos based on their interactions with the platform, indicating that people using the platforms will still be impacted by the algorithmic recommendations.<\/p>\n

When Crikey<\/em> used a fresh iPhone, downloaded new installations of YouTube and TikTok, scrolled through non-logged-in feeds of videos recommended to the accounts, and only watched one type of video while skipping past unrelated content, both apps started to show more videos of the type Crikey<\/em> was choosing to watch.<\/p>\n

On YouTube Shorts, it took 12 videos before the first video of the children\u2019s video game Roblox<\/em> was shown. By the time the account was shown the fifth Roblox<\/em> video, there was only one non-Roblox<\/em> video before the next one, suggesting that the platform had registered the account\u2019s interest in Roblox<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On TikTok, it took four videos before being shown the first clip of Donald Trump. By the sixth video of Trump, there was only one non-Trump video served before the seventh Trump video. For both apps, these recommendations continued even after the application was closed and reopened.<\/p>\n

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On YouTube Shorts, it took 12 videos before the first Roblox video was shown. By the time the account was shown the fifth Roblox video, there was only one non-Roblox video before the next one, suggesting that the platform had registered the account\u2019s interest in Roblox. pic.twitter.com\/Vs57FN3jCB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CAMERONWILSON \u2013 CROSS-POSTED FROM OTHER PLATFORMS (@cameronwilson) November 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Queensland University of Technology digital media research centre director Professor Daniel Angus said that social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube can track non-logged-in users via IP addresses, cookies and other mechanisms. It\u2019s not difficult for these companies to intuit a user\u2019s preferences even without them using the like or comment functions that are limited to logged-in users, he said, instead using data like how long someone watched a video before they moved on.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Users are] going to get a mix of highly viral content but attuned towards the content that they\u2019ve spent more time on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Angus noted, children might end up being shown more mature content on these platforms because the companies won\u2019t know their age if they aren\u2019t logged in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[At least] kids, when they\u2019re logged in, the platforms know who they are and will be choosing content accordingly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Have something to say about this article? Write to us at le*****<\/span>@********<\/span>om.au<\/span><\/a>. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey\u2019s<\/i> Your Say<\/a>. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s teen social media ban won\u2019t require TikTok or YouTube to stop children from using their algorithmically driven short-video platforms, significantly undermining the government\u2019s major motivations for the policy. Experiments by Crikey show that TikTok and YouTube Shorts users are algorithmically recommended videos by both platforms without needing to log in \u2014 meaning that these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":818805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28635,700,104640],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-818804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australias","8":"category-social","9":"category-youtube-videos"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}