Australia’s High Court on Tuesday began hearing the first major legal challenge to the country’s ban on social media accounts for children under 16, almost a year after the world-first law took effect.
Two separate cases are being heard together. One was brought by the platform Reddit; the other by the Digital Freedom Project, an advocacy group led by New South Wales state politician John Ruddick. Hiru News reported that the hearing is listed over two days, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The arguments
The Digital Freedom Project argues the ban is unconstitutional because it cuts teenagers out of political debate. “Social media is an important means of accessing news and engaging in political communication for young Australians, including children under 16,” the group submitted, according to Al Jazeera.
Reddit’s case is narrower. It does not dispute that children need protection online, but says a blanket account ban is the wrong instrument. “The evidence so far is that the effectiveness of the ban has been limited,” the company submitted. It argued that deleting accounts is in fact more dangerous, because registered accounts carry built-in safety settings, while young people browsing without an account cannot be shielded from harmful material at all. Reddit also told the court there is no scientific consensus on the harms the law assumes.
The government’s position is that the restrictions are essential to protect young users from graphic content and online predators, and that it will not retreat in the face of legal action by technology companies.
What the law does
In force since 10 December 2025, the law bars under-16s from holding accounts on ten platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Snapchat, X, Threads, Twitch and Kick. Companies must take reasonable steps to prevent those accounts existing.
Close to five million accounts identified as belonging to under-16s have since been suspended or blocked across the ten platforms, Hiru reported. Al Jazeera reported in January that the government had declared the policy a success after 4.7 million accounts were closed. Some children are still getting through by working around age-verification checks.
No company has been fined to date. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has opened investigations into whether Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are enforcing the law properly.
Why it matters beyond Australia
Australia moved first, and other governments have followed: Greece banned social media for under-15s in October, Malaysia began enforcing an under-16 ban, and the UK signalled similar restrictions. In Sri Lanka, the government has weighed age-based limits of its own. A ruling against the Australian law would be the first judicial test of whether that model survives constitutional challenge.
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Hiru gives the maximum penalty for serious or repeated breaches as A$99 million. Al Jazeera’s filing states no penalty figure, and this desk could not confirm the number from a second verified source, so it is not stated as fact above.
