Reddit sues Australia over underage social media ban

Reddit has filed a lawsuit in the High Court of Australia seeking to overturn the country’s ban on social media for under-16s. Reuters reported. The forum platform called the law contrary to the Australian constitution because it encroaches on the freedom of political speech. He also argued that Reddit should not have been included in the ban since it is not a social networking site, as defined in the law. The action is likely to trigger a lengthy legal battle, given Reddit’s resources and popularity in Australia.

Australia’s minimum age ban on social media, the first of its kind in the world, came into force on December 10. The ten affected platforms, including Reddit, must ban underage users or face a fine of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($33 million). Platforms use various means to determine age, including activity-based inference and selfies.

However, Reddit argued that the law poses “serious privacy and political expression concerns” for users. “Australian citizens under the age of 16 will, within a few years, or even a few months, become voters. The choices that will be made by these citizens will be informed by the political communication in which they engage before the age of 18,” we can read in the file.

The government disagreed, emphasizing that Reddit filed the lawsuit to protect its profits and not children’s rights to free expression. “This is an action we have seen time and time again from the tobacco giants against tobacco control and we are seeing it now from some social media or big tech giants,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.

With a market capitalization of $44 billion, Reddit certainly has the means to sustain a long fight. It would also be motivated to do so, given that Australia is its fourth largest market after Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.