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Reddit, a popular community-based forum, has launched a legal challenge to Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, arguing the new law is ineffective and goes too far in restricting online political discussion.
In an application to Australia’s High Court, the social news and aggregate platform said the law burdens political communication and is “invalid on the basis of the implied freedom of political communication”.
Canberra’s ban took effect on Wednesday and targets 10 major services, including Alphabet’s YouTube, Meta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok, Reddit, Snapchat and Elon Musk’s X. All of the platforms targeted had agreed to abide by this policy to varying degrees.
The Australian Prime Minister’s Office, the Department of Justice and other social media platforms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under the law, eligible platforms must take “reasonable steps” to prevent access by minors using age verification methods such as inferences from online activity, face estimation from selfies, uploaded IDs, and linked bank account information.
Reddit’s court application seeks to have the law declared invalid or to exempt the platform from its provisions.
In a statement to CNBC, Reddit said that while it agrees with the importance of protecting people under 16, the law could isolate teens from the ability to participate in “age-appropriate community experiences, including political discussion.”
It also said in its filing that the law “places a burden on political communication,” noting that “children’s political views influence the electoral choices of many current voters, including their parents and teachers, as well as others who are interested in the views of children who will soon reach the age of majority.”
The platform also argued that it should not be subject to the law because it operates more as a forum for adults to encourage “knowledge sharing” among users than as a traditional social network and does not import contact lists or address books.
“Reddit is significantly different from other sites where users can ‘friend’ each other, post photos of themselves, and host events,” the platform said in its filing.
Reddit also said in a court filing that most content on its platform can be accessed without an account, noting that people under 16 are “easier to protect themselves from harm online if they have an account, which is exactly what is prohibited.”
“Because that account may be subject to settings that restrict access to certain types of potentially harmful content,” it added.
Despite the opposition, Reddit said the challenge was not an attempt to avoid compliance with the law, nor was it an effort to retain younger users for business reasons.
“Rather than resorting to blanket bans, there are more targeted privacy safeguards to protect young people online,” the platform said.
—CNBC’s Dylan Butts contributed to this article.
