Reddit claims it’s different from other social platforms in response to Australia’s social media ban

In a move worthy of a post on its subreddit ‘Not Like The Other Girls’, Reddit, one of the world’s largest social platforms, claims it is different from other real social media sites as it seeks to overturn an Australian law that bans children under 16 from using social media.

In a lawsuit filed in Australia’s Supreme Court, Reddit argues that the law, which came into effect on December 10, restricts free political discussion by banning children from expressing their opinions online and should be overturned.

They argue that if the bill is not overturned, the company should be exempted from the law because it does not meet the bill’s definition of a “social media platform.”

Reddit is essentially asking the High Court of Australia to address some of the questions raised about the bill, which would require 10 major services to disable accounts and ban under-16s from using the app. Critics say the law violates children’s rights, and companies are trying to raise questions about the very definition of “social media.”

In fact, Reddit describes itself as a “collection of public forums organized by subject,” and in its filing it brings up the definition of the word “social” and argues that “enabling people to interact in a ‘social way’ is not Reddit’s sole or significant purpose.”

“Reddit enables online interaction about content posted by users to the site, which facilitates the sharing of knowledge from one user to another. Enabling interactions between one user and another based on relationships or interests is not an important purpose of the site.” […] “Reddit is very different from other sites where users can ‘friend’ each other, post photos of themselves, and organize events,” the filing says.

Reddit administrator LastBluejay said in a post accompanying the application that the law raises “significant privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet.”

“While we agree on the importance of protecting people under 16, this law has the unfortunate effect of forcing invasive and potentially unsafe verification processes on minors as well as adults, isolating teens from the ability to participate in age-appropriate community experiences (including political discussion), and creating an illogical patchwork of what platforms are and are not included,” the post reads.

Reddit also points out that much of the content on social media platforms can be accessed without an account, and children under 16 would be more easily protected if they were allowed to have accounts that could be restricted.