CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s world-first teen social media ban was “ill thought out” and amounted to a “profound restriction on political debate,” a lawyer for messaging platform Reddit told the country’s top court in the first legal challenge to the law.
\n\nReddit and a libertarian advocacy group have taken to the High Court to contest the Australian law, which bans large social media platforms from letting people under the age of 16 have accounts and took effect in late 2025 amid support from parents and opposition from the tech firms.
\n\nA successful challenge could usher in more opposition from affected companies and slow a global uptake of similar policies as lawmakers from Britain to Malaysia roll out the measures in an effort to protect youth mental and physical health.
\n\nThe Australian government and its communications minister, a named defendant, have said they will defend the law.
\n\nAddressing the court, Perry Herzfeld, for Reddit, said barring people under 16 from holding social media accounts stopped them from creating or responding to content on what he called the most important means of communication in the modern world.
\n\n“That is a very profound restriction on political debate in Australia,” Herzfeld said.
\n\n“There is…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/