By Hilary Whiteman, CNN

Brisbane, Australia (CNN) — Australia has picked a fight with the world’s largest video platform by backtracking on an earlier promise to exclude YouTube in its social media ban for children under 16.

The Labor government said Wednesday the site, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, will be subject to the same rules as other leading platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X – under legislation due to come into effect in December.

The ban puts the onus on social media platforms to prevent children under 16 from having an account on their sites, or risk fines of nearly 50 million Australian dollars ($32 million).

A YouTube spokesperson said the decision to include it in the ban “reverses a clear, public commitment” from the governm

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