In a detailed High Court filing, Reddit argues Australia's under-16 social media ban infringes constitutional rights to free political discourse and misclassifies the platform, following its initial compliance and subsequent challenge announcement. The government likens the suit to Big Tobacco resistance, as Reddit leverages its resources in its fourth-largest market.
Building on its High Court challenge announced last week—after briefly implementing age verification to comply with the December 10 ban—Reddit escalated its case on December 12, per Reuters. The lawsuit contends the law, the world's first such restriction targeting ten platforms with fines up to A$49.5 million ($33 million), limits free political expression. Reddit notes: "Australian citizens under the age of 16 will, within years if not months, become electors. The choices to be made by those citizens will be informed by political communication in which they engage prior to the age of 18."
The platform also argues it does not meet the law's definition of social media and raises privacy issues with required age verification like selfies or activity inference.
Health Minister Mark Butler dismissed the action as profit-motivated: "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."
With a $44 billion market cap and Australia as its fourth-largest market (behind Canada, UK, US), Reddit is positioned for a drawn-out battle over youth protections and online access.
