The government’s plan to ban under-16s from social media is facing a High Court challenge from the Digital Freedom Project who are claiming the move is unconstitutional.

The ban is set to come into effect on December 10, with children under the age of 16 unable to hold accounts on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, Threads, TikTok, Reddit, Twitch and Kick.

“The High Court has long held that our Australian Constitution implies a freedom to communicate on political and government matters. In this case, the government’s purpose – protecting children from demonstrable online harms – is legitimate and serious. But a measure is only constitutional if, in substance, it burdens political communication no more than reasonably necessary to achieve that purpose,” the Digital Freedom Project said.

“Instead, the SMMA [social media minimum age] blocks a whole class of Australians – all young people, each and every one of them, no matter their circumstances – from the very online spaces where news is consumed, representatives are contacted, campaigns are organised and public debate occurs. That effective exclusion places a heavy burden on political communication and fails proportionality because less restrictive and workable alternatives exist,” their website reads.

The Constitution does not explicitly protect freedom of expression, but the High Court has repeatedly maintained an implied freedom of political communication exists in Australia.