Google-owned YouTube highlighted in a blog on its Australian site the country’s pending under-16 social media ban would actually put young users at more risk, arguing they are safer when they are logged into the platform.

Rachel Lord, public policy senior manager at Google and YouTube Australia, expressed disappointment “this rushed regulation misunderstands our platform and the way young Australians use it”.

She declared the law would “not fulfil its promise to make kids safer online and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube”.

The Social Media Minimum Age Act is due to come into effect on 10 December.

Lord argued it “removes the very parental controls and safety filters built to protect them, it will not make kids safer on our platform”, because it will result in children using YouTube without an account.

She added parents would also lose the ability to supervise their child’s account because they only work when they are signed in.

At a press event today (4 December), Minister for Communications Anika Wells stated it is “outright weird” YouTube highlighted the lack of safety when users are not logged in.

She said if the platform is “reminding us all that it is not safe”, it is a “problem that YouTube needs to fix”.

The politician highlighted the origin of the law was a campaign by thousands of parents.