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The government’s plan to ban people under 16 from social media is facing a High Court challenge from the Digital Freedom Project, which claims the move is unconstitutional.
The ban will come into effect on December 10, and children under the age of 16 will not be able to get accounts on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, Threads, TikTok, Reddit, Twitch and Kick.
“The Supreme Court has long held that our Australian Constitution implies freedom of communication on political and governmental matters. In this case, the government’s aim of protecting children from demonstrable online harm is legitimate and serious. A measure is constitutional only if it does not inherently impose a greater burden on political communication than is reasonably necessary to achieve that aim,” the Digital Freedom Project said.
“Instead SMMA [social media minimum age] It blocks an entire class of Australians – all young people, each and every one of them, regardless of their circumstances – from online spaces where news is consumed, representatives engaged, campaigns organized and public debate held. This effective exclusion places a heavy burden on political communication and fails proportionality as less restrictive and viable alternatives are available,” their website writes.
The Constitution does not expressly protect freedom of expression, but the Supreme Court has repeatedly argued that an implied freedom of political communication exists in Australia.
