SYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Australia's government carved

out an exemption for YouTube when it passed laws banning social

media access for children under 16, but some mental health and

extremism experts say the video-sharing website exposes them to

addictive and harmful content.

Australia will block video-sharing platforms TikTok and

Snapchat, Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook

and Elon Musk's X for minors by the end of 2025, forcing them to

impose strict age restrictions on access or face hefty fines. At

the same time, the government will keep Alphabet-owned

YouTube open for all ages because it is a valuable educational

tool and not "a core social media application".

The initial ban was meant to include YouTube but after

hearing from company executives and children's content creators

who use the site, the government granted an exemption.

"While YouTube undoubtedly functions as a source of

entertainment and leisure, it is an important source of

education and informational content, relied on by children,

parents and carers, and educational institutions,"

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland's spokesperson said,

adding that the exemption "matched broad sentiment in the

Australian community that YouTube is not a core social media

application".

The landmark legislation passed in November sets some of the

world's most stringent social media limits.

However, six extremism and mental health researchers

interviewed by Reuters say the exemption undermines Australia's

main goal of protecting young users from harmful content.

Surveys show YouTube is the country's most popular social

media website among teenagers, used by 9 in 10 Australians aged

12-17.

FAR-RIGHT MATERIAL

The academics interviewed by Reuters said that it hosts the

same sort of dangerous content as the prohibited sites.

"YouTube is deeply problematic, not just because of its role

in terms of extremism and the spreading of extremist content and

violent content and pornographic content, but also because it

delivers highly addictive video content to young people," said

Lise Waldek, a lecturer at Macquarie University's Department of

Security Studies and Criminology who has run two

government-commissioned studies on extremist content on YouTube.

Helen Young, a member of the Addressing Violent Extremism

and Radicalisation to Terrorism Network, echoed those concerns,

saying YouTube's "algorithm feeds really far-right material,

whether it's primarily racist or primarily sort of misogynist,

anti-feminist stuff, to users that it identifies as young men

and boys."

The academics interviewed by Reuters acknowledged that all

social media platforms struggle to control the flow of harmful

content but questioned why the country's most popular site was

given an exception.

When asked about these criticisms, a YouTube spokesperson

said the platform promoted content that met quality principles

such as encouraging respect while limiting "repeated

recommendations of content that, while innocuous in a single

view, can be potentially problematic if viewed in repetition for

some young viewers".

In addition, YouTube has said in public online statements

that its moderation is getting more aggressive and that it has

broadened its definition of harmful content which will be picked

up by its automated detection system.

TESTING YOUTUBE'S ALGORITHM

To test what content YouTube's algorithm would deliver to

minors, Reuters set up three accounts using fictitious names of

children under 16 years of age. Two searches, one on sex and the

other on COVID-19, led to links promoting misogyny and extreme

conspiracy theories within 20 clicks. A third search on

"European History" led to racist content after 12 hours of

intermittent scrolling on the platform.

Searches deliberately seeking out misogynist and racist

commentators all landed on harmful content in less than 20

clicks. Reuters shared its methodology and results with YouTube,

which said it would review the material.

Reuters also flagged six videos to YouTube that came up

during the experiment. YouTube has since taken one down - an

interview with an Australian neo-Nazi leader - for violating the

site's hate speech rules. An account promoting misogynistic

content was removed. Four of the videos remain online.

YouTube said it has "strict policies prohibiting hate

speech, harassment, and violent or graphic content" and that

after a review of the flagged videos, it found two of them

violated these policies. It did not comment on the ones left

online.