Children would lie about their age to evade YouTube ban

Preventing Australian teenagers from accessing YouTube would be “a ridiculous step” and the federal government should outline which platforms would fall under a social media ban for children, an inquiry has heard.

The Social Media and Australian Society inquiry on Wednesday heard evidence from 6 News Australia’s 16-year-old founder Leonardo Puglisi, who warned that children would seek to evade any technological restrictions placed on them.

The inquiry has previously heard evidence from parent groups urging the government to ban all children from social media and mental health organisations who warn a blanket ban would cause harm.

Mr Puglisi, who founded his news outlet aged 11, told the committee he did not think proposed restrictions on social media would be effective as many children would lie about their age to evade bans.

“I don’t think there is a silver bullet in this situation but a blanket ban I can see causing harm and we don’t want to cause any further harm,” he said.

“When there’s danger in the water, we don’t teach kids to stay out of the water, we teach them to swim, right?”

Social networks restrict access for children aged under 13 years, which Mr Puglisi said was a reasonable age limit.

Preventing 15, 16 and 17-year-olds from accessing digital platforms would restrict their access to news content and could affect their education, depending on what platforms were impacted, he said.

“There’s been talk that YouTube could be involved in (a ban) which I think would just be ridiculous given how important YouTube is in school for learning, and there’s so much content that teachers rely on,” he said.

“I just think banning that would be a ridiculous step and a step too far.”

Lifting the age of access to social media could also impact 6 News staff, he said, as several of its reporters were under 16 years of age.

Both major political parties have promised to introduce further restrictions on social media for children, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announcing plans to lift the age limit to 16 years.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also pledged to enforce a minimum age for accessing social networks but is yet to reveal details.

The social media inquiry is expected to release its final report in November.