ISTANBUL

American online forum Reddit filed a lawsuit in the High Court on Friday, challenging Australia's world-first law, which prohibits Australian children under the age of 16 from having accounts on the world's most popular social media platforms, ABC News reported.

Reddit is one of the restricted platforms for children under 16 in Australia, along with Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, and YouTube, as listed by the Australian eSafety Commissioner.

Reddit's High Court suit follows a case filed last month by the Digital Freedom Project, a rights group based in Sydney. Both lawsuits claim the law is unconstitutional because it violates Australia's implied freedom of political communication, the ABC report said.

“While we agree with the importance of protecting people under 16, this law has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences (including political discussions), and creating an illogical patchwork of which platforms are included and which aren’t,” Reddit said in a statement.

The ban was implemented on Tuesday, with authorities ordering social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to block children or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million).

The ban excludes messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Discord, GitHub, Google Classroom, LEGO Play, Pinterest, Steam, Steam Chat, and YouTube Kids are all excluded.

According to documents filed with the court registry, Reddit will petition the seven High Court judges to declare the law invalid. Alternatively, the company wants the court to prevent the government from including Reddit on the list of age-restricted platforms, according to the media outlet, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for late February.