Reddit says it isn’t like other platforms in case against Australia’s social media ban

Is Reddit like other social media platforms? That’s the question before the High Court of Australia in light of the country’s under-16s social media ban. 

Last week, Reddit filed a lawsuit in Australia’s highest court seeking to overturn the country’s recently enacted social media ban for children.

The San Francisco-based firm claims the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Australia’s implied freedom of political communication. The lawsuit follows a case filed last month by Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project. 

Reddit is also asking the High Court to rule that even if the legislation is valid, that Reddit is not like other social media platforms.

The Australian eSafety Commissioner’s website provides a list of criteria for social media platforms subjected to the age restrictions, as well as a flow chart to help companies work out whether their platforms fall under the scope.

The regulatory agency lists the platforms that fall under its age restrictions as Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, and YouTube.

Sites that will not be subject to age restrictions are Discord, GitHub, Google Classroom, LEGO Play, Messenger, Pinterest, Roblox, Steam and Steam Chat, WhatsApp, and YouTube Kids.

In documents filed in the High Court, Reddit argues it does not satisfy the first criteria of having “the sole purpose, or a significant purpose, of enabling online social interaction between two or more end-users.”

Reddit brought up definitions of the word social in its filing to make its case that its users mostly do not interact “in a social manner.” 

Reddit says that for an interaction to be social, it has to happen “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 same could be said for other social platforms. 

The company said it does not promote real-time presence, friend requests, or activity feeds that drive ongoing engagement. Instead, it “operates as a collection of public fora arranged by subject.” Reddit says it merely “enables online interactions about the content that users post on the site. It facilitates knowledge sharing from one user to other users.”

In a post accompanying the filing, Reddit admin LastBluejay said they are complying with the law and they are notably not against child safety measures or regulations, or trying to retain young users for business reasons. They wrote that the law carries “some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet.”

Platforms now face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.9 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of those under the minimum age.

source https://www.fastcompany.com/91460527/reddit-australia-social-media-teens