A hot potato: Young people in Australia could soon face another restriction in the name of their safety. Google has warned that the country’s proposed digital due diligence law could force it to ban people under 18 from Gmail. Having already banned under-16s from accessing social media, Australia’s push to make the internet safer for children could now extend to something as mundane as checking their email.
According to Reuters, Rachel Lord, YouTube’s head of policy for Australia and New Zealand, raised these concerns at a Senate hearing on November 9. She said regulations requiring age verification when children are at risk of exposure to pornography could impact email, messaging and private file storage.
“We’re talking about potentially intrusive surveillance of private communications or file storage,” Lord said.
The bill passed the House of Representatives but still needs bipartisan support in the Senate. Google’s warning concerns the possible requirements for compliance with the rule.
Unsurprisingly, Google wasn’t the only company to object to the proposal. Meta, TikTok and Snap warned that giving regulators such broad discretion over harmful content could lead platforms to remove too much material to avoid penalties.
In the government’s description of the legislation, these penalties amount to up to AU$109.2 million (US$75.40 million). The law, introduced on October 15, requires providers to take reasonable measures to keep Australians safe and provides additional protection for under-18s.
The proposal also includes tools that would allow users to choose whether to display algorithmically recommended content in their feeds. It would give the eSafety Commissioner the authority to issue takedown notices for Nudify apps and websites, shorten required responses to cyberbullying and abuse complaints to 24 hours, and set minimum standards for platform complaint processes.
Australia is already arguing over its existing restrictions on young people. Last week it was reported that Reddit was challenging the nationwide social media ban on under-16s, calling it “ill-conceived” and “incompetent” while arguing that Reddit is not a social media platform.
This children’s social media ban came into effect on December 10, 2025, making Australia the first country in the world to introduce such a restriction. Reddit says it restricts political expression and argues that its lack of reliance on friend networks sets it apart from platforms like Facebook.
