The news: YouTube received a personal pledge that it will be exempt from Australia’s looming social media ban for children under 16 via a letter to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan from Australia’s communications minister Michelle Rowland, per the Australian Financial Review.
The promise is drawing backlash from Meta, TikTok, and Snap, who are urging the government to reconsider the exemption.
- Rowland reportedly made the promise before a consultation process on the ban had begun, with TikTok claiming that the letter “raises serious questions about the integrity of the government’s plan.”