Children will still be able to use YouTube for educational content if the platform is included in a social media ban, Australia's internet safety watchdog says.
eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant has rejected YouTube's claims banning those younger than 16 from using it would prevent videos on the site from being shown in class settings.
It comes after Ms Inman Grant wrote to Communications Minister Anika Wells urging that YouTube be covered by laws restricting access to social media for people younger than 16 when they come into effect in December.
YouTube was not covered under the laws - which applied bans to other platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat - when they passed parliament.
The eSafety commissioner said research had shown children were exposed to harmful content on YouTube more than on any other platform.
YouTube hit back at calls for the ban, saying a large number of young people had viewed content on the platform in classrooms and for educational purposes.
But Ms Inman Grant said YouTube had made "mistaken claims" about the social media ban and the platform could still be used to access school-approved content.
"The new law will only restrict children under the age of 16 from having their own accounts - not accessing content on YouTube or any other service through links from the school or in a 'logged-out' state," she said.
"There is nothing in the legislation that prevents educators with their own accounts from continuing to incorporate school-approved educational content on YouTube or any other service just as they do now."
In a statement, YouTube's Australian public policy manager Rachel Lord said protections for children would not be available if the directions of the watchdog were followed.
"The eSafety commissioner's advice for younger people to use YouTube in a 'logged out' state deprives them of the age-appropriate experiences and additional safety guardrails we specifically designed for younger people," she said.
"eSafety's advice to include YouTube in the social media ban is in direct contradiction to the government's own commitment, its own research on community sentiment."
Ms Inman Grant said advice had been given to the government that no single platform should be excluded from the social media ban.
"YouTube currently employs many of the same features and functionality associated with the harms that the legislation is seeking to address," she said.
"These include features such as autoplay, endless content and algorithmically recommended content."
Ms Wells is yet to decide whether to include YouTube in the ban.
