Australian teenagers ask High Court to block social media ban

A constitutional challenge against Australia’s social media ban on children younger than 16 has been filed in the nation’s highest court, two weeks before the world-first law is set to take effect.



A campaign group called the Digital Freedom Project said on Wednesday it launched proceedings in the High Court of Australia in a bid to block the law, with two 15-year-olds, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, as plaintiffs in the case.



More than one million accounts held by teenagers under 16 are set to be deactivated in Australia when the ban on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta's Facebook and Instagram starts on December 10.



In a statement on Wednesday, the Digital Freedom Project said the ban "robs" young Australians of their freedom of political communication, an implied right in the constitution. Australia does not have an express right to free speech.



"The legislation is grossly excessive," the statement said.



Neyland said the law would ban young people from expressing their views online.



"Young people like me are the voters of tomorrow ... we shouldn't be silenced. It's like Orwell's book 1984, and that scares me," she said.