New $14 million ad blitz about upcoming social media under-16s ban to launch from Sunday

YouTube and Snapchat have until Thursday to provide further data to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner after they both refused to accept an assessment that their platforms would be included in the impending under 16s social media ban.

The ban — which kicks in on December 10 — is designed to keep children off major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and YouTube.

Both platforms had claimed they should be exempt after undertaking a self-evaluation requested by eSafety.

They have since also disputed eSafety’s own “preliminary assessment” which confirmed their inclusion.

Snapchat has claimed it is a messaging app not a “social media platform, while YouTube asserts it’s just a video-streaming service.

However, Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has requested both platforms hand over their assessment methodology by October 16.

Speaking at a Senate hearing for online child safety on Monday, Ms Inman Grant revealed the behind-the-scenes deflection she’d received from Youtube.

“They’ve written us two letters saying they do not think that they are in the ban, they’re a video-sharing platform,” she said.

“So, we sent them a letter with our preliminary assessment last week. It indicated that our preliminary assessment was that YouTube is in because of a collection of different social media functions.”

She also accused YouTube’s parent company Google of previously not being forthcoming to eSafety on data requests.

“I did meet with their president of Global Public Affairs at the Googleplex, as well as their age assurance teams. I asked them to give us as much as they could so that we could do a fair and full some analysis. None of that was forthcoming,” she revealed.

“We’re giving them until the 16th — so Thursday of this week — to provide any further information.”

Ms Inman Grant had joined Communications Minister Anika Wells in private meetings with Snapchat, Meta, and Tik Tok on Monday to reiterate the obligations on the apps. The duo are also expected to meet with YouTube later this week.

While the platforms agreed to meet with the duo, Meta, Snapchat and Tik Tok failed to appear before the same Senate inquiry Monday. YouTube and Google executives did, however, give evidence.

It comes as Ms Wells announced in Melbourne on Tuesday that the Albanese Government would splash $14 million on an advertising campaign to help prepare young Australians for the impending ban.

Titled “For The Good Of” the main campaign video depicts several children holding smartphones in various different settings.

A voiceover states: “For the good of Kirsty, for the good of Lucy and Anya, for the good of Sam, for the good of Holly, for the good of Noah, for the good of their wellbeing”.

“From December 10, people under the age of 16 will no longer have access to social media accounts. It’s part of a new law to keep under-16s safer online.”

Viewers are then pointed to eSafety.gov.au at the end of the video for further information and resources.

Ms Wells said it would appear across TV, billboards, and “ironically” social media from Sunday, October 19.

“They’ll see it on TV, they’ll see it, online, they’ll see it ironically on social media, because until the 10th of December, it is legal for kids to be on social media,” Ms Wells said.

“And if that’s where they are, that’s where we need to talk to them about what this means and why we’re doing it.”

Ms Wells claimed on Tuesday that children she had engaged with were “happy and grateful” for the upcoming ban before correcting herself: “Perhaps ‘grateful’ is too strong of a word”.

“I think the gratitude is this law applies to everybody. Everyone will be facing a new world, and everybody will have to talk to each other face-to-face.

Ms Wells also spoke about her meetings with Meta, Tik Tok and Snapchat executives but spoke with more optimism about compliance than Ms Inman Grant had shared.

She expressed confidence from the conversations that the platforms would comply come December 10.

“I’m confident they will deliver on their obligations,” she said.

“I’m confident it can work, and it is up for the platforms to make sure it does.”

Chair of the Environment and Communications References Committee and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young had been scathing of the platforms for rejecting their requests to give evidence.

Senator Hanson-Young vowed to subpoena the trio to front questions in coming months.

Ms Wells said it wasn’t her place to compel the platforms to appear before the Senate inquiry, when asked by reporters in Melbourne whether she had raised their non-appearance during scheduled talks on Monday.

“As a humble hard-working member of the House of Representatives what happens in the other place is not for me to compel,” she said.

“That’s a Senate inquiry, so you would have to speak to the chair of the committee.”

Shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh said the Coalition supported an awareness campaign but questioned why it only came at the eleventh-hour.

“People need to know about this but the clock’s ticking,” she told Sky on Tuesday.

“I met with the families that had lost their children to social media harm. They’d said to me… that there wasn’t enough awareness.

“We’re a matter of weeks away now, so it’s a little too late.”

Ms Wells said after she “lands” the laws on December 10, the Albanese Government will shift its attention to legislating a Digital Duty of Care.

The legislation was a recommendation in the Online Safety Act reform and would place the onus on digital platforms to proactively keep Australians safe and better prevent online harms.

While it’s been spruiked by Labor and welcomed by advocates, there’s been little movement on it.

“This is an awareness campaign as well as acting to regulate. It is not the case the buck stops here,” Ms Wells said on Tuesday.

“Once we land these reforms and… the platforms comply with Australian law, we then look at Duty of Care.”

Ms Inman Grant added that eSafety was expected to release a “dynamic list” later this week of apps which are not traditionally thought of as social media but could be swept up in the ban.

The Albanese Government’s ban has drawn attention globally with Europe and was centre stage of a dedicated event on the sideline of the UN General Assembly in New York last month.