Google has warned that Australian teens below 18 could potentially be locked out of their Gmail accounts. The tech giant told an Australian Senate committee that the government’s Digital Duty of Care bill could force it to run age checks on Gmail accounts. The company raised this concern at a hearing on Monday that also drew objections from Meta, TikTok and Snap.
Why Google thinks emails are in the bill’s scope
Rachel Lord, who heads policy for Google-owned YouTube in Australia and New Zealand, told the hearing that the problem lies in one part of the bill. This part requires age checks on any service where children could come across pornography or fetish content. Lord claims the wording is too broad and could affect platforms that were never designed to carry such material, Reuters reported.
“This could require us to age assure and block access to everyday communication services like messaging, email and private file storage,” she told the committee.
Lord said the rules could also affect Google Drive. Liberal senator Sarah Henderson asked if Gmail and Drive might have to check users’ ages and scan their private emails, messages and files. Lord answered affirmatively, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Google believes the rules should only cover services mainly used to share pornography.
The privacy clause that went missing
Lord also said the bill does not do enough to protect privacy. She said an earlier draft released in September allowed companies to consider privacy, but that part was removed from the version now before the Senate.
“We’re a bit confused about why it’s been removed,” she said, per the Herald. “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 will be judged on how well they protect users and whether their actions match the risks involved. However, it does not mention privacy and says cost cannot be used as a reason for their decisions. Henderson called the bill “deeply flawed” and said it could force companies like Google to monitor people’s emails on a large scale.
What the bill does and where it stands
Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced the Digital Duty of Care bill on October 15. It would require online companies to prevent harm before it ever happens. Companies that fail to follow the rules could face fines of up to A$109 million (about $75 million). The same fine would also apply if they break the age-check rules.
The bill passed the House of Representatives in late October and now needs Senate approval. The Labor government is expected to seek support from the Greens, who back the duty of care but want higher fines for companies that break the rules. A committee is expected to report on the bill by November 20, and Wells wants it passed before the end of 2026. If approved, the new rules will take effect 12 months later.
A spokesperson for Wells dismissed concerns that the bill could block children from using Gmail. “The government does not intend to stop children from using email or the internet,” the spokesperson said. They explained that the goal was to keep children away from pornography, not block basic online services. Wells has compared the rules to safety standards for food, cars and children’s toys. She has also added that the bill is not a form of censorship.
Big Tech has objected
Google was not the only company with concerns. Representatives from Meta, TikTok and Snap told the committee that the bill gives regulators too much power to decide what content or behavior is harmful. They also warned that platforms could end up removing more content than necessary just to avoid fines. The bill would also replace some of the rules that these companies currently follow.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young took the opposite line, telling TikTok that “we actually need some proper rules in place because your community guidelines clearly aren’t cutting it,” the Herald reported.
Australia has already introduced strict rules on children’s access to social media. Since December 2025, children under 16 have been banned from having accounts on major social media platforms, including YouTube.
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