Australia’s landmark social media ban for under-16s faces challenges in court over accusations that it amounts to censorship and creates privacy issues.
Two challenges to the world-first legislation have been filed in Australia’s High Court, almost a year after it took effect last December.
Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021 stopped Australians under 16 from holding accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch.
However, multiple studies – including by Australian regulator the eSafety Commissioner – have found that most teenagers under the cutoff age continue to use social media since the ban went live.
One challenge to the ban was filed by Reddit, which a lawyer for the online forum called “inept”, “ill-thought-out”, and said amounted to a “profound restriction on political debate”.
Addressing the court, Perry Herzfeld, for Reddit, said barring under-16s from holding social media accounts stopped them from creating or responding to content on what he called the most important means of communication in the modern world.
“That is a very profound restriction on political debate in Australia,” Mr Herzfeld told the seven-judge panel. “There is a very substantial restriction on what young people can now do.”
Reddit also argues that the ban raises issues of privacy, and that it should not be included in the same category as other banned social media platforms.
‘Stepping stone to censorship’ says teen
Another challenge to the ban was filed by the Sydney-based Digital Freedom Project, which initially filed the challenge on behalf of two 15-year-olds last year.
Both teenagers have since been removed from the case over concerns they could be liable for legal costs.
However, Noah Jones – one of the teenagers, now 16 – told reporters outside the High Court on Monday that the ban “is just a stepping stone further and further to censorship and I think they’ve masked it as this form of child safety”.
“In the end, it’s really just them trying to slowly gain more and more control of what young people see, as they will be voters.”
On its website, the rights group said that the act was “a blatant attack on the rights of young Australians and we can’t accept it”.
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It comes after Australia’s government doubled the maximum fine for non-compliance to AUS$99m (£51.4m), given the eSafety Commissioner greater discovery powers, and said it is preparing an enforcement lawsuit against some of the biggest social media platforms.
Communications minister Anika Wells was in court for the proceedings. She said she would respect the court’s decision, which cannot be appealed, but said the challenges were a “sustained ideological attack”.
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