Two days of hearings begin in the first major legal test of Australia's world-leading ban, which has led to more than 5 million account suspensions.
Australia's High Court begins two days of hearings on Tuesday in the first major legal challenge to the country's under-16 social media ban. Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project, an advocacy group led by New South Wales Libertarian MP John Ruddick, are seeking to overturn the law, and their cases are being heard together. The ban took effect on 10 December 2025 and requires ten platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Reddit, Kick, Threads and Twitch, to take reasonable steps to keep users under 16 off their services.
The case largely turns on whether barring under-16s from holding accounts impermissibly burdens the implied freedom of political communication, since Australia has no guaranteed right to free speech. Reddit argues that platforms are a common source of news and political information and that teenagers would be unable to post on politics or follow the youth wings of political parties; it says it will keep complying with the law while it challenges it. The government says the law reduces harm from features such as algorithms, infinite scroll, persistent notifications and likes, and it disputes whether the Digital Freedom Project has standing, after the two teenage plaintiffs withdrew in July. Legal experts are divided, with Anne Twomey seeing a possible opening for Reddit and Luke Beck expecting the challenges to fail.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said more than 5 million accounts have been suspended across the ten services, though the opposition questions whether that figure is inflated and the government has not released a platform-by-platform breakdown. No company has yet been fined, but penalties can reach A$99 million for serious or repeated breaches, and the eSafety Commissioner is investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube over compliance amid reports that many teenagers have bypassed age checks. Parliament is also debating a digital duty of care bill, which the government argues would require platforms to take the same action as the ban.
