Reddit sues Australia over ban for under-16s, calls it intrusion on free political discourse

Social news aggregation and forum social media platform Reddit filed a lawsuit in Australia’s highest court on Friday challenging the country’s social media ban for under-16 children, while calling it an intrusion on free political discourse, just days after the landmark law came into effect. Reddit, which ranks Australia among its biggest markets, said in the filing that the ban should be declared invalid because it interfered with free political communication implied by the country’s constitution. It added that even if the court upheld the ban, Reddit should be exempt since it did not meet the definition of social media. The filing names the Commonwealth of Australia and Communications Minister Anika Wells as defendants.

The suit was filed just two days after the world’s first nationwide ban on people under 16 accessing social media came into force. Earlier, two teenagers representing an Australian libertarian group had filed a suit in November.

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‘Australian govt on the side of parents and kids, not platforms’

The legal challenge from the Silicon Valley tech major paves the way for a long court battle.

Reacting to the legal challenge, a spokesperson for Wells said the Australian government was “on the side of Australian parents and kids, not platforms” and would “stand firm to protect young Australians from experiencing harm on social media”.

Reddit and nine other platforms, including Meta’s Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube, and TikTok, campaigned against the ban for over a year before ultimately saying they would comply.

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Reddit filed lawsuit to protect profits, says minister

Health Minister Mark Butler said Reddit filed the lawsuit to protect profits, not young people’s right to political expression, and “we will fight this action every step of the way”.

“It is action we saw time and time again by Big Tobacco against tobacco control and we are seeing it now by some social media or big tech giants,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

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Tech companies that fail to comply face Aus$49.5 million (US$33 million) fines if they do not purge Australia-based users younger than 16.

Australia’s social media ban is being closely watched, as New Zealand and Malaysia are also mulling similar restrictions.