While governments around the world continue to tackle the thorny issue of age verification for certain websites and platforms, Australia is taking a blunter approach -- and Reddit is immediately pushing back in court. The social media company has filed a High Court challenge to Australia's new law, which went into effect on Tuesday.
In a statement posted Thursday on Reddit, the company said that while it supports protecting users under 16, the legislation "forces intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences."
The age-restricted apps include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch. Younger teenagers will still have access to popular gaming platforms, including Discord, as well as social media platforms such as Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, and Pinterest, and educational resources like Kids Helpline, Google Classroom, and YouTube Kids. The ban also doesn't include AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, OpenAI's Sora or Google Gemini.
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Australia is the first country to launch this kind of age-restricted social media ban. Several other countries, including China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and India, have full or partial social media bans, typically for political and security reasons.
Other countries, including Denmark, France, Norway and Malaysia, are considering similar bans to Australia's and will monitor the effectiveness of the Australian ban over the coming months.
Although many studies have been conducted worldwide about the psycho-emotional effects of social media usage on children, the ban was inspired by The Anxious Generation, a book by US psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Annabel West, the wife of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, encouraged her husband to consider a ban after reading Haidt's book in 2024.
Companies must enforce the ban, or face massive fines
Apps can use age-assurance technology, such as facial and voice analysis, to verify that a consumer is at least 16 years of age. Social media companies can also check how long an account has been active and assess age by language style and community memberships.
Kids being kids, they will find workarounds -- such as one 13-year-old who held up a photo of her mother's face to fool the age verification. The Australian government said it will prevent kids from using false identity documents, AI tools or VPNs to fake their age and location.
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