Challenge raised to social media ban

On December 10 2025, Australia’s social media ban officially took effect.

Under the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, users under the age of 16 are restricted from accessing social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Sanae Prasad discusses a challenge raised to the ban.

Social media companies listed under the legislation must take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent users under 16 who are residents of Australia from accessing their platforms. Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, argues this shifts the responsibility away from parents and onto the companies.

However, what are ‘reasonable steps’ is not clearly defined. The legislation does provide various restrictions as to the information that may be collected to prove age. This includes S 63DB(1), which states that a provider of an age-restricted social media platform must not collect government issued identification material for the purposes of preventing age-restricted users from having accounts.

The result is that, currently, all the affected apps allow users to create an account simply by listing an age above 16 when signing up, without any further age verification. This highlights the main concern over the ban; how will it be policed and implemented effectively?

Supporters argue that while it may be difficult to police in the short run, the ban will create a long run positive impact.

Australian courts are already facing their first dispute stemming from this ban. US-based web platform, ‘Reddit’, is challenging the ban on two main fronts:

1.     The ban infringes on the constitutionally implied freedom of political speech.

2.     Even if the legislation is valid, Reddit falls outside the scope. It is not the ‘sole or significant purpose’ of Reddit to enable persons to interact ‘in a social manner’. Rather, the purpose is ‘knowledge sharing’. To support this, Reddit cited that in most cases the identity of a user on the platform is not known and contacts are not imported.

While a date is not yet set for this case, it marks an important shift in the relationship between the ‘Big Tech’ industry and government policy. Any court cases that result from this legislation will be key in clarifying its application and set precedent for companies to follow.