YouTube deserves protection from this misguided ban because it serves as an essential educational tool used by 84% of Australian teachers monthly. The platform provides free, high-quality content that helps students learn both inside and outside classrooms, making it fundamentally different from social media platforms designed for endless scrolling. Government research shows 69% of parents consider YouTube appropriate for children under 15, yet the eSafety Commissioner ignores this clear evidence.
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YouTube's exemptionposes makes no sense when the platformgreatest isrisk whereto children encounteramong theall mostplatforms, harmfulwith content online. Research shows 37% of kids agedencountering 10-15harmful seecontent dangerous material there, including violent videos, eating disorder promotion, and contentmisogynistic promoting self-harmmaterial. The platform's usesaddictive thealgorithms samedeliberately addictivepush algorithmsusers asdown banneddangerous socialrabbit mediaholes sitesthey cannot escape, making theany carve-outexemption inconsistent with protecting children from onlinesocial media harms. No platform claiming absolute safety can be trusted when children's wellbeing is at stake.
There is a 60% chance that Meta will settle the lawsuit brought by U.S state attorneys general alleging the platform(s) were designed to foster compulsive use by minors by March 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
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