Australia’s High Court Weighs Constitutional Challenges to Youth Social Media Ban

MELBOURNE — Australia’s High Court began a two-day hearing Tuesday examining constitutional challenges to the nation’s pioneering legislation that prohibits children under 16 from holding accounts on major social media platforms.

The full bench of seven justices is considering two separate challenges to the law, which took effect last year and applies to platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch.

The first challenge was filed by the Sydney-based Digital Freedom Project, which contends the legislation improperly deprives millions of young Australians of their implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication.

The second challenge comes from U.S.-based forum Reddit, which argues the ban raises privacy and political expression concerns and objects to being classified alongside the other restricted platforms.

Two Sydney teenagers, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, both 15 at the time, were originally named as plaintiffs in the Digital Freedom Project case but were later removed over concerns they could face liability for legal costs if the challenge failed.

Jones, who has since turned 16 and is no longer subject to the restriction, told reporters outside the court that he views the legislation as a step toward government censorship.

“I believe this is just a stepping stone further and further to censorship, and I think they’ve masked it as a form of child safety,” Jones 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.”

His mother, Renee Jones, acknowledged she is “fiercely afraid” of the risks social media poses to young people but said the government’s approach misses the mark. She argued the ban would leave young people ill-equipped to navigate online spaces safely.

“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,” she said.

The government announced in June it was considering tightening the legislation after evidence emerged that underage users continue to access restricted platforms in significant numbers. The targeted companies face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($34.5 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove underage accounts.

A study published in the British Medical Journal in June found 85% of Australian 12- to 17-year-olds surveyed continued to use restricted platforms. Government research released in March showed seven in ten underage children maintained accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok since the ban took effect in December.

Communications Minister Anika Wells attended the proceedings and afterward defended the legislation as a protective measure.

“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,” Wells said.

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