Communications Minister Anika Wells and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant are meeting with major technology companies this week to prepare them for the imminent implementation of Australia's world-first social media ban for children under 16.

With just two months until the new laws take effect on 10 December, the Minister and Commissioner are holding discussions with Meta, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok to emphasise that the platforms must work proactively with government to comply with the Social Media Minimum Age Law. A meeting with X is scheduled for November.

However, confusion remains about how the ban will work in practice and how companies will be required to comply with their obligations.

In a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday morning, YouTube and Google's government affairs manager Rachel Lord argued that YouTube should not be classified as a social media platform, claiming the ban would be extremely difficult to enforce.

"The legislation will not only be extremely difficult to enforce, but it also does not fulfil its promise of making kids safer online," Ms Lord told the hearing.

She argued that YouTube functions as a video streaming platform and content library rather than social media, and warned that forcing children to use the service without accounts would actually remove parental controls and safety filters designed to protect them.

"YouTube has invested heavily in designing age-appropriate products and industry-leading content controls and tools that allow parents to make choices for their families," Ms Lord said.

YouTube Kids is not affected by the ban as it does not allow account creation or commenting.

Ms Lord declined to directly answer questions from Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson about whether Google was planning a legal challenge to the new laws, saying only that the company was "continuing to speak and engage constructively" with the

Senator Henderson described the inclusion of YouTube in the ban as a "betrayal" of young people by the government.

Minister Wells said all tech companies received a final copy of the compliance rules several weeks ago, and regulatory guidance has been released. Platforms are expected to implement processes preventing under-16s from holding accounts from 10 December.

"In two months, our world-leading social media minimum age laws will give children a reprieve from the persuasive pull of platforms, and those platforms must work closely with eSafety to ensure their systems comply with the law," Ms Wells said.

"There's a place for social media, but there's not a place for predatory algorithms damaging children."

The Minister is using the meetings to stress government expectations for implementation and what behaviour will not be tolerated, emphasising that the law's intention is to give Australian children three more years to build real-world connections and online resilience.

Ms Wells said the government would work with platforms to assist implementation, but stressed there was no excuse for not being ready by December.

Under the regulations, social media platforms will not be required to verify the ages of all users when the ban comes into effect, but they must demonstrate they are taking all necessary steps to remove accounts held by under-16s.

The government has adopted what it describes as a "lighter approach" to age verification, aiming to prevent platforms from collecting more data than necessary. However, platforms must satisfy the eSafety watchdog that they have taken "reasonable steps" to keep children off their sites.

Commissioner Inman Grant acknowledged when releasing the regulations that the ban would likely not be immediately applied by most companies, as they would need time to reconfigure technologies and introduce new processes.

However, she urged the public to lodge complaints if they become aware of platforms allowing children under 16 to continue using their services.

"If we detect that there is a really egregious oversight, or too much is being missed, then we will talk to the companies about the need to retune their technologies," the Commissioner said.

The legislation represents a significant shift in how Australia regulates children's access to social media and places substantial obligations on technology companies operating in the Australian market.