State govt to take on teen social media ban High Court challenge
Premier Peter Malinauskas has thrown his weight behind a High Court battle over the incoming social media age limit, putting the state government head-to-head with two 15-year-olds.
The state government today announced it would seek to be heard in a High Court challenge of federal legislation underpinning the nation’s social media age limit that is due to come into force next week.
Two 15-year-olds from New South Wales – Noah James and Macy Neyland – are the listed plaintiffs in the case launched by the Digital Freedom Project, in a bid to overturn the laws.
The laws would ban under-16s from using social media from next Wednesday, with the Digital Freedom Project president and New South Wales parliamentarian John Ruddick labelling the ban as “a direct assault on young people’s right to freedom of political communication”.
The group would challenge the ban on the grounds it “robs” more than 2.5 million young Australians of their constitutionally implied right to political communication.
Social media companies like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, X, Facebook and YouTube face fines of up to $49.5 million if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to block young users from platforms from December 10.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, whose government pushed for the federal ban, said the state government wanted to be heard in the case.
“Together with the Federal Government, we have led the world in crafting legislation to protect our children from the dangers of social media and addictive algorithms,” the Premier said.
Stay informed, daily
“The rest of the planet is watching closely.
“It is no surprise that there will be those who seek to stop our intervention.”
He said the government would “seek to ensure our arguments and reasons for pursuing this legislation are heard and clearly understood in any legal challenge”.
“When something threatens harm to our kids – be it drugs, alcohol, gambling, or addictive social media,” the Premier said.
