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Reddit and Libertarian Group Challenge Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban in High Court
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In Short: Reddit and a libertarian group have filed lawsuits in Australia's High Court to challenge the country's ban on social media for users under 16 years old.
Reddit, a major Silicon Valley company with a $44 billion market capitalization, filed a lawsuit on Friday, arguing that the ban infringes on free political discourse and violates the implied freedom of political communication under Australia's constitution.
The lawsuit, which names the Commonwealth of Australia and Communications Minister Anika Wells as defendants, asserts that the ban should be declared invalid because it impedes political communication.
Reddit's filing also claims that the ban should not apply to the company since it does not meet the definition of social media.
The libertarian group Digital Freedom Project, represented by New South Wales state Libertarian MP John Ruddick, filed a separate lawsuit last month.
The ban, which went into effect on December 10, 2025, requires 10 social media platforms to deactivate or suspend accounts of users under 16 years old.
According to Reddit, the ban prevents teenagers from making political posts, commenting on or reacting to political content, and engaging with the youth wings of major political parties.
The Australian government has defended the ban, arguing that it reduces the risk of harm to under-16s from social media's harmful features, such as algorithms, infinite scroll, persistent notifications, and likes.
Constitutional law experts, however, have expressed skepticism about the challenges' success, noting that the ban only slightly reduces the overall volume of political communication in Australia.
The High Court will hear the cases on Tuesday and Wednesday, with both Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project arguing that the ban unconstitutionally burdens the freedom of political communication.
The Digital Freedom Project faces an additional hurdle, as the government is challenging the group's standing to bring the case to the court.
Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project have joined the High Court case as a single special case, both challenging the legislation on the same constitutional grounds.
Reddit's chief communications officer, Adam Collins, stated that the company shares the Australian government's goal of protecting young people online but believes there are better ways to achieve it.
What this adds
The Digital Freedom Project's case was initially joined by two teenagers but was withdrawn in July, leaving the group to lead the challenge.
What's confirmed
- Nearly 11 months ago, 10 platforms – Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Kick, X, Twitch and Threads – were required to deactivate or suspend the accounts of users they determined to be aged under 16 years.
- Reddit has argued in its submission to the court that online platforms are a “common source of news and political information” in Australia.
- “We share the Australian government’s goal of protecting young people online, but there are better, more effective ways to achieve it than the SMMA [social media minimum age]. As we challenge this law in court, we’ll continue to comply with it and advocate for more effective youth safety measures,” Reddit’s chief communications officer, Adam Collins, said in a statement to the Guardian.
What's still developing
- Reddit, a message board website, on Friday filed a lawsuit in Australia’s highest court seeking to overturn the country’s social media ban for children, calling it an intrusion on free political discourse and setting the stage for a protracted legal battle.
- But the action from a Silicon Valley major with a $44 billion market capitalisation dramatically increases the resources available to continue a drawn-out court battle.
- The law “carries some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet,” Reddit said in a statement published alongside its court filing.
- Reddit and nine other platforms, including Meta’s Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube and TikTok campaigned against the measure for more than a year before ultimately saying they would comply.
- Success for Reddit could open the door for other platforms to mount similar challenges.
- Get the most important news as it breaks Luke Beck, a professor of constitutional law at Monash University, wrote in the Guardian last year the cases were likely to fail, as the social media account ban only slightly reduces the overall volume of political communication in Australia, and 13, 14 and 15-year-olds were not engaging in much political communication before the ban.
- Many other countries are considering following Australia’s lead but there have been concerns teenagers have been able to easily circumvent the ban.
- The constitutional law expert Prof Anne Twomey wrote last year that Reddit could be successful in highlighting the mismatch between the intended purpose of the law and the practical effect – if the restriction is not preventing children from the harms while also restricting their freedom of political communication.
- “The government is arguing that DFP is not impacted by the law so therefore can’t challenge it,” he said.
- However, in July, both were withdrawn from the case, leaving it to the advocacy group.
- The federal government’s submission argues the group has not identified any activity of the group that is impeded by the ban.
- The legal action argues that preventing under-16s from holding social media accounts limits their ability to engage with political content, express their views and participate in public debate.