Forum website Reddit on Friday filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to overturn Australia’s social media ban on people under 16 and their inclusion in it, calling the law a violation of freedom of political expression.
The company, which is listed in the US and has operations in Australia, called the ban “invalid for infringing the implied freedom of political communication,” in a court brief signed by its lawyers, Perry Herzfeld and Jackson Wherrett.
The suit named the Commonwealth of Australia and Communications Minister Anika Wells as defendants. A spokesman for Wells was not immediately available for comment, although the Australian government has said it is ready to face any legal challenges to the law.
Two days earlier, Australia implemented the world’s first legal requirement to set a minimum age for accessing social media. Reddit and nine other platforms, including Meta’s Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube and TikTok, campaigned against the measure for more than a year before finally announcing they would comply with the law.
Continue reading: Australia bans teenagers from accessing Reddit and Kick
Platforms must block underage users or face a fine of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.98 million), while underage users and their caregivers will not face punishment. The platforms say they are using measures such as age inference, based on a person’s online activity, and age estimation, based on a selfie, to comply with the rule.
But the law “raises serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the Internet,” Reddit said in a statement released alongside its lawsuit. “Therefore, we are submitting a request for the law to be reviewed.”
The lawsuit represents a second challenge to the Supreme Court over the ban. Last month, two teenagers backed by a libertarian Australian state lawmaker filed a challenge that will be heard in February.
Reddit has no plans to join other parties that are challenging the ban, a source familiar with the situation said.
With information from Reuters
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