Australia’s High Court hears bid to overturn under-16s social media ban

Online giant Reddit and advocacy group Digital Freedom Project argue ban is unconstitutional.Published On 3 Nov 20263 Nov 2026Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s faces its first major legal test in the High Court, almost one year after taking effect.The challenge was brought on Tuesday by online platform Reddit and Australian advocacy group Digital Freedom Project.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Meta’s $18bn settlement: How social platforms will change for child userslist 2 of 3Australia seeks big tech support for internet safety, AI regulationlist 3 of 3Greece joins push to ban social media for minorsend of listReddit has highlighted a number of issues in its written submission to the court, pointing to problems enforcing the ban and a lack of scientific evidence about the harms of social media.“The evidence so far is that the effectiveness of the ban has been limited,” Reddit’s submission reads.Social media companies were forced to delete millions of accounts after Australia banned those aged below 16 from the likes of Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Reddit last December.The platforms are responsible for identifying and deleting the accounts of unde...