Australia’s government recently passed groundbreaking legislation aimed at protecting minors from harmful social media content. The laws, set to block platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and X for minors by 2025, have raised concerns from mental health and extremism experts, especially with YouTube being exempted from these restrictions. While the government defends the decision by highlighting YouTube’s role as an educational tool, critics argue that the platform poses risks similar to the ones associated with other banned sites.
The initial ban was set to include YouTube, but after consultations with the company and children’s content creators, the government carved out an exemption. Officials argue that YouTube provides educational and informational content that is invaluable to children, parents, and educators. However, researchers argue that YouTube is a hotspot for extremist material, pornographic content, and addictive videos, all of which can negatively impact young users.
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Despite YouTube’s efforts to moderate harmful content, researchers believe that its algorithm often pushes users toward far-right and misogynistic material. Studies have shown that YouTube’s algorithm feeds young people content that can be harmful, including extremist views, conspiracy theories, and racist content. Experts say this poses a danger to the mental well-being of minors and contradicts the government’s intent to safeguard young users from online harm.
In a recent experiment, Reuters tested YouTube’s algorithm and found that searches related to sex and COVID-19 quickly led to harmful content, including misogyny and extreme conspiracy theories. Though YouTube removed some flagged content, several harmful videos remained online, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the platform’s moderation.
