Australia rushed through ‘ill-thought-out’ under-16s social media ban, Reddit argues as high court challenge begins

Reddit challenges the law

Reddit’s lawyers argued at the high court on Tuesday that the government’s 2024 passage of the under-16s social media ban was rushed. Perry Herzfeld SC said the result was legislation that was “ill-thought-out, over-broad”, and argued it had since been narrowed after Reddit sued the government.

Herzfeld said a 2021 parliamentary inquiry into social media had not recommended a ban. The eSafety commissioner had warned the inquiry that such a measure would be a “blunt force approach”, he said.

Dispute over political communication

The case concerns whether the ban’s limits on political communication are justified by what the government describes as a “credible risk” of harm. The risks cited include mental health problems, sleep issues and eating disorders.

Justice Jacqueline Gleeson expressed reservations after hearing examples of politically engaged teenagers, including 6News founder Leo Puglisi, who began his news site at age 11. Herzfeld argued that social media gives teenagers access to a much wider audience than speaking on a street or appearing in the media.

Rules and account suspensions

In March this year, communications minister Anika Wells introduced rules specifying additional conditions for platforms to fall within the legislation. These include logged-in features, recommendation features and endless scroll.

Herzfeld argued that a broad ban on accounts belonging to under-16s does not specifically address those features. He said different legislation could do so, pointing to digital duty of care legislation before parliament.

Since the ban took effect in December last year, more than 5 million accounts across 10 platforms have been suspended or deactivated. The platforms believe those accounts belonged to people under 16.