Reddit and Digital Freedom Project Challenge Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban in High Court

Australia's High Court on Tuesday began hearing two constitutional challenges to the country's under-16 social media ban, with seven judges on the bench. The challenges were brought by Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project, a digital rights group led by New South Wales parliamentarian John Ruddick. Both argue the law is unconstitutional because it impinges on the implied freedom of political communication of children. The ban took effect on 10 December last year. The Digital Freedom Project filed its case a few weeks before then. Reddit announced its challenge in late 2025, after the eSafety commissioner said Reddit would be covered and the company did not accept that it met the law's definition of a social media platform.

Reddit's counsel, Perry Herzfeld SC, told the court the legislation was passed within a week, with only 24 hours allowed for submissions. He said that process risked "ill-thought-out, over-broad" law. He added that a 2021 parliamentary inquiry had not recommended a ban and that the eSafety commissioner had warned a ban would be a "blunt force approach". Communications Minister Anika Wells, speaking outside court in Canberra, said the government was defending a child's right to be free from harm. Ruddick called the policy "censorship". Two teenagers who first led the case, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, have withdrawn as plaintiffs.

The left-leaning Guardian leads with Reddit's courtroom argument. It centers on the rushed legislative timeline, the 2021 inquiry and the eSafety warning, and says the law has since been narrowed after Reddit sued. The New York Times, in a short excerpt, frames it as Reddit and an advocacy group claiming the law infringes children's constitutional rights. Right-leaning outlets had not reported the story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. Alternative outlets, BBC and AP, describe the hearing as a major test of a world-first policy. The BBC adds Wells' and Ruddick's remarks and the teen plaintiffs' withdrawal.