Australian court hears challenges to social media ban

Australia’s highest court has begun hearing constitutional challenges to the nation’s world-first legislation banning children younger than 16 from popular social media platforms.

The seven high court judges began hearing two challenges to the ban that took effect last year on young children holding accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch.

The first challenge was brought by Sydney-based human rights group Digital Freedom Project.

They claim the law improperly robs millions of young Australians of a right to freedom of political communication implied in Australia’s constitution.

The second challenge comes from US online forum Reddit, which argues the ban raised issues of privacy and political expression.

Reddit also argued that it should not have been included in the same category as other banned social media platforms.

The two-day hearing will end on Wednesday.

Two Sydney 15-year-olds, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, had been included as plaintiffs when the Digital Freedom Project case was filed last year. But the pair were removed over concerns they could be held liable for legal costs should the case fail.

Noah, who is now 16 and no longer subject to the ban, told reporters outside court the legislation amounted to a government step towards censorship.

"I believe that this is just a stepping stone further and further to censorship and I think they’ve masked it as this form of child safety," he said.

"But in the end, it’s really just them trying to slowly gain more and more control of what young people see as they will be voters."

Noah’s mother, Renee Jones, told reporters she was "fiercely afraid" of problems social media presented to young people, but that the government’s legislation missed the mark.

She said the ban would leave young people ignorant about safe online interaction and the dangers that came with being on social media.

"I want my son to grow up into a young Australian man who is resilient, who is responsible online, who can identify the dangers, and who is able to vet some of these things," the mother told reporters.

The Australian government announced in June that it was considering strengthening laws behind the ban.

This followed evidence that young children were continuing to remain on social media.

The 10 targeted platforms face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (€28.1 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of young children.

A study published in the British Medical Journal in June found 85% of a group of Australian 12 to 17-year-olds continued to use restricted platforms.

The government’s own research released in March showed seven in 10 underage children continued to hold accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok since December.

Australian communications minister Anika Wells was in court for the proceedings and later told reporters the laws were under attack.

"We are here to defend a fundamental tenet of Australian democracy which is an Australian’s right, and particularly an Australian child’s right, to be free from harm, and we seek to defend that from sustained ideological attack," Ms Wells said.