Australian teenagers could be locked out of Gmail and other email services under the federal government’s online safety overhaul, Google has told a Senate inquiry.
YouTube public policy manager Rachel Lord said on Monday that one section of the Digital Duty of Care bill could force Google to check users’ ages and block under-18s from “everyday communication services like messaging, email and private file storage”.
The section is designed to keep children away from pornography. Google wants it limited to services whose sole or main purpose is distributing porn.
The bill, which passed the lower house last month, would make online companies act to reduce harm before it happens, with penalties of up to $109.2 million. Communications Minister Anika Wells wants it passed by the end of the year, and the new duty would begin 12 months after it becomes law.
The section covers any online service where there is a reasonably foreseeable risk a child could come across pornography or fetish material. Where it is technically feasible and reasonably practicable, companies must offer at least two ways of checking a user’s age and stop anyone not verified as an adult from seeing that material.
It does not expressly say under-18s must be blocked from a service altogether, but it has no exemption for email or messaging. A breach carries the same maximum penalty as the duty itself.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson asked whether Google had warned that Gmail and Google Drive could be forced to introduce age checks and scan private emails, messages and files. “Correct,” Lord replied, adding that Google was concerned about having to check ages and block under-18s.
Lord, who appeared alongside representatives from Meta, Snap and TikTok, said privacy had been dropped from the factors companies must weigh when complying with the law despite its appearance in a draft released in September.
“We’re a bit confused about why it’s been removed,” she said. “There are no protections for Australian privacy when we’re talking about what are effectively private communications and private file storage.”
The bill says companies’ actions should be judged on factors including security and whether they are proportionate to the risk. It does not list privacy and says cost must not be considered.
Henderson, who called the bill “deeply flawed”, said it would require companies such as Google “to conduct mass surveillance of people’s emails”.
Lord said Google had raised its concerns with the government, and that the bill was “missing the nuance and the detail” needed for private communications and file storage.
She added that Google supported the introduction of a duty of care. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, whose party secured the inquiry, said tech companies needed tougher oversight.
“We actually need some proper rules in place because your community guidelines clearly aren’t cutting it,” she told TikTok during Monday’s hearing.
Wells has rejected claims the bill would enable political censorship, telling the National Press Club last month it was “absolutely nothing of the sort”.
The government says the laws would put the onus on big tech to reduce harm before it occurs, rather than relying on complaints and takedowns after the damage is done. Wells has said the law would “set basic safety standards for the digital services we use every day”, comparing it with rules for food, cars and children’s toys.
The bill would also give Australians the option of turning off their social media algorithm.
The committee is due to report by November 20.
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