Reddit has filed a High Court challenge alleging that Australia's social media restrictions are being applied to the company inaccurately.
The company is currently complying with the legislation but has said the new law "has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors".
Reddit added the law was "creating an illogical patchwork of which platforms are included and which aren't".
In response to Reddit's legal challenge, the Albanese government said it was "on the side of Australian parents and kids, not platforms".
"We will stand firm to protect young Australians from experiencing harm on social media," a government spokesperson said.
"The matter is before the courts, so it is not appropriate to comment further."
In a statement, Reddit said the case was not an attempt to avoid compliance and it would continue to comply and engage with the government regulator.
"We believe there are more effective ways for the Australian government to accomplish our shared goal of protecting youth, and the SMMA law carries some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet," Reddit said in the court filing.
"This law is applied to Reddit inaccurately, since we're a forum primarily for adults and we don't have the traditional social media features the government has taken issue with."
Reddit is one of 10 platforms included in Australia's world-first social media ban for children under 16.
To avoid Australia's new age limit laws, a platform must come under an exempt class, which includes messaging, email, voice or video calling, online games, health, education and professional development.
Reddit said "this is also not an effort to retain young users for business reasons".
The social media platform said it did not "market or target advertising to children under 18", saying that under-16s were "not a substantial market segment for Reddit and we don't intend them to be".
Ban is not 'reasonably appropriate and adapted'
In its filing, Reddit says the government's social media ban has not been well adapted to cater for all platforms affected.
The company says the only obligation imposed on platforms relating to the restriction of access to under-16s is to "take reasonable steps to prevent age-restricted users having accounts".
Reddit argues the Amendment Act "does not impose any obligation on providers to restrict access to content on the site that is accessible without an account".
It says the memorandum provided by the government states the "obligation would not affect user access to 'logged-out' versions of a social media platform".
Reddit says it is one such platform where users can access content without an account.
Banned: TikTok
TikTok is used to create, share and discover short videos, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance.
Before the ban, the eSafety Commission said there were about 200,000 Australian users aged 13 to 15, among a total of almost 10 million Australian accounts.
While TikTok has its own minimum age of 13, the regulator has found it's one of the most popular platforms for users aged between eight and 12 as well.
The platform's Australia policy lead, Ella Woods-Joyce, said TikTok would comply with the ban, but warned it could have unintended consequences."Experts believe a ban will push younger people into darker corners of the internet where protections don't exist," Ms Woods-Joyce said.
Banned: Instagram
Instagram was the most used app among Australian teenagers aged 13 to 17 with more than a million monthly active users in this age cohort, according to the eSafety Commission.
The platform is owned by Meta, which also owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Messenger.
Instagram said its "teen accounts" were automatically applied to users aged 13 to 17, which came with built-in limits on who can contact them and filters on "sensitive content".
Users in this age cohort also received notifications prompting them to leave the app after 60 minutes of use in one day.
Despite these measures, Instagram is under Australia's social media ban for under-16s.
Banned: Snapchat
Snapchat was also among the most popular apps for young people, with more than a million of its 8.3 million Australian users aged 17 or under.
Snapchat is a messaging app that allows users to send images, videos and texts that are only available for a short period once they're opened.
Users can also choose to share their location with friends on Snap Map.
Snapchat sought to allow underage users to download and archive their data before their accounts were disabled.
Banned: YouTube
YouTube has been one of the most popular online platforms for young Australians, with more than 643,000 users aged 17 and under.
The regulator found it was the top platform for users aged between eight and 12, with more than two-thirds of those surveyed picking it as their platform of choice.
The Australian government was planning to exempt YouTube from its social media ban, but later backflipped on this decision.
Rachel Lord from YouTube Australia and New Zealand says there's substantial evidence that YouTube is widely used in classrooms and supported by parents.
"YouTube is not a social media platform; it is a video streaming platform with a library of free, high-quality content, and TV screens are increasingly the most popular place to watch," she said.
YouTube Kids, a filtered version of the platform that allows parents to create accounts for children under 12, is still allowed.
Banned: Facebook
While Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube dominated for young social media users, Facebook still had an estimated 455,000 Australian users aged between 13 and 17.
The platform is owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta and already has a minimum age of 13.
Meta policy director Mia Garlick recently told a Senate hearing that the company would comply with the ban but was still solving "numerous challenges" to identify teenagers' accounts.
Facebook's private messaging service Messenger is still allowed.
Banned: Twitch
Streaming platform Twitch was added to the list of banned apps after the eSafety Commission found it has the sole or significant purpose of online social interaction.
"Twitch is a platform most commonly used for live streaming or posting content that enables users, including Australian children, to interact with others in relation to the content posted," a statement posted to the eSafety website said.
Twitch is mainly used by gaming and eSport players to broadcast their gameplay with audio commentary, but it's also used to share and broadcast music, live sports, and food programs, according to the regulator.
Banned: X
Formerly known as Twitter and owned by billionaire Elon Musk, X falls under the list of banned platforms for under-16s.
While it wasn't among the most popular apps for young users, the eSafety Commission has concerns about the prevalence of "online hate" on the platform.
In June 2023, the regulator said it had received more complaints about online hate on X in the past 12 months than any other platform, saying X had "dropped the ball on tackling hate".
Banned: Reddit
Messaging board Reddit, the seventh-most visited site in the world, is on the list of age-restricted platforms.
The platform bans mature content until a user declares they are 18 or over, however, there was no age verification system in place, according to the eSafety Commission.
The platform has said it would comply with the ban, but disagreed with the "scope, effectiveness and privacy implications" of the law.
Banned: Kick
Along with Reddit, Kick was a late addition to the government's list of age-restricted platforms.
Kick is an Australian competitor to video live streaming platform Twitch, where users can watch live video streams covering games, music and gambling.
The eSafety Commission recently suggested Twitch, along with gaming site Roblox, could also soon fall under the ban.
Banned: Threads
Threads is a microblogging platform similar to X, which requires users to have an Instagram account for access.
As Instagram is banned for under 16s, Threads also falls under the list of banned platforms.
Reddit not 'social'
In one part of the court filing, Reddit references the Oxford and Macquarie Dictionary's definition of the word social.
Reddit argues that the government's new ban focuses on the word social and online social interaction, which is not the "sole or a significant" purpose of the platform.
"Reddit enables online interactions about the content that users post on the site. It facilitates knowledge sharing from one user to other users," the filing states.
"It is not a significant purpose of the site to enable interactions engaged in because of a particular user's relationship with or interest in another user as a person; indeed, in most cases, the identity of a user on Reddit is not even known to other users."
The platform goes on to say it does not import contact lists, and its upvote/downvote function is to allow users to indicate how helpful information is, not as a way to be social.
"In this way, Reddit is significantly different from other sites that allow for users to become 'friends' with one another, or to post photos about themselves, or to organise events," the company said.
