In what some term a new draconian law, the Australian government blocked under 16s from social media, but it’s complicated.
Some Meta platforms have criticized Australia’s new law, stating it could push teenagers to less regulated and more risky platforms. Meanwhile, social media itself is starting to fight back against the law, including Reddit. Reddit is now suing the Australian government over the ban citing free speech concerns.
Saying the new ban infringes on teens’ freedom of political discourse, Reddit is taking the Australian government to court to block the social media ban. It happened on Wednesday this week, when Australia announced the social media ban, making it the first country in the world to do so. Basically, the law requires the top 10 popular social media platforms to block anyone under the age of 16 from holding an account.
Well the U16 social media ban is a complete failure already with teens already finding loop holes
Australia was apparently setting a ‘World Standard’ and yet that World Standard is already collapsing.
— Mickamious (@MickamiousG) December 10, 2025
According to officials, the new law is necessary to protect teenagers from the dangers of social media. It further makes it easier for the kids’ parents to keep their children away from such platforms until they are more mature. However, not everyone sees a good side to the ban, including some tech giants.
Based in San Francisco, Reddit has filed a lawsuit in Australia’s highest court to have the law invalidated. The filing paves the way for what is likely to be a protracted legal battle with the “nanny” government. According to Reddit this law could suppress teens’ freedom to take part in political discourse years before they become voters. Moreover, with teens being teens, youngers who find themselves banned will find a way back, sometimes illegally.
According to Reddit, there are swathes of content on several platforms that users can view without having to sign into an account. This means that the reduction of risk to teenagers – the key objective of the law – is minimal at best.
Moreover, Reddit wants to clarify that the platform isn’t an “age-restricted social media platform, a definition required to comply with the new law. While admittedly, logged-out visitors can’t post or comment, the actual content is largely open to everyone.
While the social media platform has introduced changes to comply with the law. These include age prediction for users in Australia, along with stricter chat settings, no ads personalization or sensitive ads, and no access to mature content. However, Reddit said the platform will remain accessible to browse without a login.
Meanwhile, Facebook and Instagram owners, Meta Platforms have also criticized the law, pointing out that this could push under 16s to less regulated platforms and apps. They stressed that legislation empowering parents to approve app downloads and age verification would be a better option.
in gloomy times, bold democratic innovations mustn’t be ignored; here’s an imperfect but potentially consequential example, launched today, the world’s first state-level attempt to protect under 16s from @Meta and other corporate social media predators…https://t.co/c9DDGxnIJH
— John Keane (@jkeaneSDN) December 10, 2025
“Experts, youth groups, and many parents agree that blanket bans are not the solution – they isolate teens from online communities and information, while providing inconsistent protection across the many apps they use,” a Meta spokesperson said.
As previously reported, savvy teens already have they own way around the ban. They know how to use VPNs (virtual private networks) where they can spoof their location to anywhere outside of Australia. Moreover, they can use the logins of their older siblings and friends to avoid the ban. However, probably the worst is that teens, desperate to be on social media could access dangerous apps and websites across the Internet.
