Reddit has filed a High Court challenge to Australia’s pioneering law that bars children under 16 from holding accounts on major social networks. The California-based company lodged its suit on Friday, joining a separate challenge brought last month by Sydney rights group Digital Freedom Project.
Both legal actions contend the measure breaches Australia’s implied freedom of political communication. In a statement, Reddit said it supports protecting young people but believes the SMMA (Social Media Minimum Age) law is not the best or only way to do so and raises significant privacy and free-expression issues.
Reddit warned the law could force intrusive — and potentially insecure — age-verification processes on users of all ages, cut teens off from age-appropriate communities and political discussion, and create an uneven regulatory patchwork depending on which platforms are included.
The statute requires a list of major platforms to take reasonable steps to remove accounts belonging to Australians under 16, with possible fines of up to A$49.5 million (about US$32.9 million) for noncompliance. The government’s list currently includes Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has sent compulsory information notices to those 10 platforms seeking data on how many child accounts they have deactivated since the law came into effect. Inman Grant had warned some services might wait for a notice or a penalty before pursuing legal action; eSafety says it will issue six-monthly notices to track compliance.
Despite initiating court proceedings, Reddit says it will comply with the law while continuing to engage with eSafety. Court filings show Reddit will ask the seven justices of the High Court either to declare the law invalid or to bar the government from placing Reddit on the list of age-restricted platforms.
A preliminary High Court hearing is scheduled for late February to set a trial date for the Digital Freedom Project case, which was filed on behalf of two 15-year-olds. It is not yet known whether the two challenges will be heard together.
