High Court Examines Constitutional Challenges to Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban

Australia's federal social media ban for users under the age of 16 faces its first major legal test in the High Court of Australia. The legislation, which took effect in December 2025, requires ten digital platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from holding accounts. Nearly five million accounts have been blocked since the policy was implemented across platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, X, TikTok, YouTube, Kick, Reddit, and Twitch.

Legal challenges brought separately by US-based platform Reddit and advocacy group the Digital Freedom Project have been combined by the High Court into a single special case. Both plaintiffs argue that the legislation is unconstitutional because it places an unreasonable burden on Australia's implied freedom of political communication and excludes young people from civic engagement. The Digital Freedom Project has also taken legal action against the eSafety commissioner.

In written submissions, the plaintiffs contended there is a disconnect between the stated objective of the law and its practical reality. They argued that numerous children under 16 have successfully bypassed age-assurance technologies to maintain or create accounts, and that potentially harmful online content remains accessible even without an account. Reddit further challenged its inclusion under the legislation, raising concerns regarding user privacy and political expression.

The federal government maintains that the laws impose only a modest burden on political communication and are justified as a protective measure against online harms. While acknowledging during the legislation's passage that the bill impinged upon children's rights, the government asserted that the policy objectives outweighed those concerns. Associate Professor Noam Peleg, a children's rights expert, noted that the core question before the court is whether protections for political communication extend to children and online platforms, and whether the ban represents a proportionate measure.

The legal proceedings coincide with the introduction of a separate digital duty of care bill by the Labor government, which proposes to place legal responsibility on technology platforms to proactively secure their systems rather than depending on users to report harms. Meanwhile, Australia ranks 142nd out of 194 countries on the KidsRights Index, a standing associated with restrictions on children's public participation and rights.