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PM tells parents: 'We have your backs'

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Ban due to go into effect in December

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Other sites objected to YouTube's exemption

(Adds background on ban, details throughout)

By Renju Jose and Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, July 30 (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday

it will add YouTube to sites covered by its world-first ban on

social media for teenagers, reversing an earlier decision to

exempt the Alphabet-owned video-sharing site and

potentially setting up a legal challenge.

The decision came after the country's internet regulator

last week urged the government to overturn a YouTube carve-out,

citing a survey that found 37% of minors reported seeing harmful

content on the site.

"Social media has a social responsibility and there is no

doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by

online platforms so I'm calling time on it," Prime Minister

Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

"I want Australian parents to know that we have their

backs."

The decision broadens the ban due to take effect in

December. YouTube says it is used by nearly three-quarters of

Australians aged 13-15, and it should not be classified as

social media because its main activity is hosting videos.

Since the government said last year that it would exempt

YouTube due to its popularity with teachers, platforms included

in the ban such as Meta's Facebook and Instagram,

Snapchat and TikTok have complained.

They contend that YouTube has key similarities to their

products including letting users interact and recommending

content through an algorithm based on activity.

The reversal, meanwhile, sets up a fresh dispute between

Australia and Alphabet, which threatened to withdraw some Google

services from Australia in 2021 to avoid a law forcing it to pay

news outlets for content appearing in searches.

"Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing

platform with a library of free, high-quality content,

increasingly viewed on TV screens. It's not social media," a

YouTube spokesperson said by email.

Last week, YouTube told Reuters it had written to the

government "urging them to uphold the integrity of the

legislative process". Australian media reported YouTube

threatened to challenge the ban in court, although YouTube did

not confirm that.

The relevant law, which passed in November, says only that

social media platforms must take reasonable steps to keep

Australians aged under 16 out or face a fine of up to A$49.5

million.

The government is due to receive a report this month on

tests of age-checking products, and it has said those results

will influence how the ban will be enforced.

($1 = 1.5363 Australian dollars)