Media release - Albanese Government's YouTube U-turn

Melissa McIntosh MP
 Shadow Minister for Communications
 Shadow Minister for Women
 Federal Member for Lindsay

30 July 2025

Albanese Government’s YouTube U-turn

The Albanese Labor Government’s backflip on exempting YouTube from the social media age minimum is a blatant broken promise to the Australian people.

Kids protection online is of the utmost importance to all Australians. When the government introduced the legislation in November, they specifically excluded YouTube. This was the premise on which the legislation passed the Parliament.

The Prime Minister also issued two media releases clearly stating YouTube would not be included in the social media age minimum and the government wrote to YouTube affirming that a re-elected Labor government would keep YouTube’s exemption.

This Labor government has walked away from their commitment under the guise of the eSafety Commissioner’s advice, which was premised on a survey dressed up as research.

Shadow Minister for Communications, Melissa McIntosh MP said, “the Albanese Labor Government can change a Minister, but they cannot hide the fact they deliberately misled the public at the last election by promising to keep YouTube out of the social media age minimum.”

“The Prime Minister says he’s a man of his word, yet he continually says one thing and does another with broken promises on cutting power prices, housing targets, secret plans for higher taxes, and new social media bans.  

“The Prime Minister and the Labor government reaffirmed YouTube’s exemption before the election. They gave YouTube an iron-clad guarantee they would remain exempt. It makes you question what has really changed behind the scenes in the government on this issue, and whether it was an election stunt.

“Let me be clear, the protection of kids online is paramount, and we will never waiver from this commitment. We do not want children to be bullied or targeted online inappropriately. In Opposition, the Coalition initiated the social media age minimum because we wanted to protect kids from cyberbullying, predatory behaviour and inappropriate material.

“We are concerned that the eSafety Commissioner is testing boundaries which are moving beyond what Australians are comfortable with. Just yesterday, the Senate voted to recognise the onerous and privacy breaching internet search code registered by the eSafety Commissioner that will force everyone to have a login to search the internet freely.”

The Coalition will scrutinise the regulations once they are tabled in Parliament.