Reddit has launched a High Court bid to overturn Australia’s teen social media ban on privacy and free speech grounds, just days after the world-first laws took effect on Wednesday.
The online forum revealed the challenge against the federal government on Friday, arguing that the Social Media Minimum Age Act “carries some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet”.
The move comes just days after the platform said it would comply with the ban, while also enlisting a high-profile legal team, including barrister Perry Herzfeld SC, to mount the challenge.
In its application to the High Court, Reddit said the ban “directly burdens political communication in Australia” by preventing children from communicating their views.
“There are many subreddits dedicated to discussion of Australian political matters, as well as many other subreddits that promote or facilitate the discussion of Australian political matters,” the documents read.
The company said these views “inform the electoral choices of many current electors”, as well as the political views of future voters prior to them turning 18.
Reddit even contends that under-16s are “more easily protected from online harm if they have an account”, since “almost all of the content on the [Reddit] site… accessible without an account”.
The company also disputes its designation as an age-restricted social media platform, arguing that it merely “enables online interactions” and “facilitates knowledge sharing from one user to other users”.
“It is not a significant purpose of the site to enable interactions engaged in because of a particular user’s relationship with or interest in another user as a person; indeed, in most cases the identity of a user on Reddit is not even known to other users.”
Reddit is one of 10 digital platforms required to take “reasonable steps” to prevent under-16s from holding or creating accounts, along with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Threads, Twitch and Kick.
Platforms that don’t comply face fines of up to $49.5 million, although Communications Minister Anika Wells last week said penalties would be imposed slowly to give companies time to apply the new laws.
Ms Wells, who has been embroiled in a growing parliamentary expenses scandal, earlier this year said the government would “not be intimidated by legal threats”.
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