YouTube in class after the under-16 social media rules

Since 10 December 2025, the companies behind age-restricted social media platforms (ten at the time of writing) have had to take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from having accounts. YouTube is one of them. For schools, that raised a fair question: can teachers still use YouTube in lessons?

The short answer is yes. The duty sits with the platforms, not with schools.

What changed

The law asks age-restricted platforms to prevent under-16s from holding their own accounts. eSafety's list of age-restricted platforms includes Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube, among others. YouTube Kids and Google Classroom are not on it.

What didn't change for schools

eSafety's guidance for educators says the duty sits with the platforms, and teachers can still show YouTube videos that don't need an account. Victoria's education department puts it in practical terms: its schools may use age-restricted platforms while logged out, for delivering content such as showing a video.

So the minimum age doesn't make a lesson video illegal, and it doesn't ask your filter to do anything new.

The problem that was already there

Many schools block YouTube for students, and for good reason. It's full of content that isn't suitable and isn't for learning. But a Year 9 science teacher with a five-minute video for Period 3 still needs it, and the usual options aren't great:

• Ask IT and wait. The ticket often lands after the lesson.
• Unblock it for everyone. Quick, but it tends to stay open long after anyone remembers why.
• Give up on the video. The lesson loses something it was planned around.

There's a fourth option: let the teacher allow YouTube for their room or class, for that lesson only, and have access end by itself. That's the approach we built DNS Angel around, and it fits the spirit of the new rules well. A trusted adult decides, for a learning purpose, for a set time, with nobody signing in.

A sensible way to handle it

1. Decide whether YouTube can be allowed at all. If your school would rather it never be allowed, put it on your Never allow list and tell staff why.
2. Show videos logged out. It's what eSafety's guidance anticipates, and it keeps students away from accounts, comments and messaging.
3. Keep access short and specific. One room or class, one lesson, then back to normal.
4. Keep a record. If a parent asks what was opened in a lesson, you should be able to say who allowed it, where, and for how long.

Logged-out YouTube still shows recommendations and autoplay, so a quick word to staff about full-screen playback and turning autoplay off goes a long way.