The federal government has doubled down on its decision to give YouTube a carve-out from the teen social media ban, despite privately assuring rival platforms that "no final decisions" have been made, the ABC can reveal.
The government disputes that it has made contradictory statements, but the revelation further complicates what competitors have described as a ''sweetheart deal" for the video streaming giant.
From December, all Australians will have to prove they are older than 16 to use most social media sites, but Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is yet to formalise which platforms will be covered.
The legislation states the minister must seek advice from the eSafety Commissioner first — something Ms Rowland has not yet done.
Despite that, the government now appears to be discussing the exemption for YouTube as if it is a done deal.
The government told the ABC the decision to exclude YouTube was made five months ago, and it had not wavered since, but emails seen by the ABC suggest Ms Rowland's office gave a very different message to a YouTube rival as recently as last month.
The email from early March, sent by a senior ministerial staffer to a YouTube competitor in reply to concerns over the YouTube exemption, stated: "I can reassure you that no final decisions are imminent and will not occur until the full consultation is complete."
It went on to acknowledge that the minister has an obligation to seek advice from regulators such as the eSafety Commissioner first.
"Once the current stakeholder phase of consultation is completed, the next phase will be to seek the advice of the relevant regulators, per our legislative obligation," the staffer wrote.
Ms Rowland's office responded to questions from the ABC by doubling down on its claim that the decision to exempt YouTube is nothing new.
"The Minister's decision to exclude YouTube was made in November last year, publicly stated in a media release and reflected in the second reading of the legislation," a spokesperson said.
"That decision has been made and there has been zero reconsideration or communication to suggest otherwise — despite misleading attempts by Snapchat, Facebook and TikTok to imply that it was."
The spokesperson did not provide any further clarification on the matter.
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How did we get here? The YouTube saga so far
The government has stated its intention to exempt YouTube several times since the policy was first announced, although the language has sometimes shifted depending on the context.
When the teen social media ban was announced in November, Ms Rowland said YouTube would be part of the ban, and that there were "no outs" for social media giants.
YouTube Kids might be an exception, she said at the time, because of its educational role for children and families.
Two weeks later, by the time the bill was making its way through parliament, the government's position changed, and YouTube was earmarked for an "expected" exemption.
Several weeks after that, the minister wrote a letter to YouTube's global CEO, in which she said she "reaffirms" the government's "commitment" that YouTube would avoid the ban.
The letter only came to light last week under Freedom of Information laws, more than four months after it was sent.
YouTube's rivals hit back at proposed exemption
Officially, the rules to determine once and for all which platforms will be exempt are only at a draft phase.
The version of those rules made public in February this year singled out YouTube for an exemption from the ban, triggering a backlash from Snapchat, Meta and TikTok.
They accused the government of making a "sweetheart deal" to exempt the platform, with TikTok arguing it was "akin to banning the sale of soft drinks to minors but exempting Coca-Cola".
In March, Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said the notion of exempting YouTube "makes a mockery of the Government's stated intention … to protect young people".
It argued the platform uses all the same features the government has deemed unsafe for children, including algorithmic content recommendations, never-ending auto-play, and persistent notifications and alerts.
"YouTube's exemption is at odds with the purported reasons for the [teen social media ban]," a Meta spokesperson told the ABC.
