Reddit has taken legal action by filing a lawsuit with the High Court in Australia to challenge the country’s social media ban for individuals under 16 years old. The lawsuit argues that the ban violates the implied freedom of political communication. The U.S.-based company, which operates in Australia, has enlisted lawyers Perry Herzfeld and Jackson Wherrett to represent them in this matter.
The legal filing names the Commonwealth of Australia and Communications Minister Anika Wells as defendants. While a response from Wells’ spokesperson was not immediately available, the Australian government has stated its readiness to defend the law against any legal challenges.
Australia recently implemented the world’s first mandatory age restriction for accessing social media. Reddit, along with nine other platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, had opposed the regulation for over a year before eventually agreeing to comply. These platforms are required to prevent underage users from accessing their services or risk facing fines of up to approximately $45 million. To enforce the ban, platforms are employing methods like age inference from online behavior and age estimation from selfies.
Expressing concerns over privacy and freedom of expression implications, Reddit released a statement alongside the court filing announcing their application for a legal review of the law. This lawsuit marks the second High Court challenge to the ban, following a previous challenge by two teenagers supported by an Australian libertarian lawmaker. Reddit has clarified that they do not intend to join other parties in challenging the ban.
The implementation of the social media ban for youth in Australia has stirred debates on age verification reliability and methods used by young users to bypass the restrictions.