The High Court of Australia docket identifies Reddit, Inc. v Commonwealth of Australia & Anor, case S166/2025, and frames it around whether Part 4A of the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) impermissibly burdens the implied freedom of political communication. Full Court hearings are listed in Canberra for November 3 and 4, 2026, on the court docket.
What Reddit is asking the High Court to decide
Part 4A requires providers of certain kinds of social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent people under 16 from having accounts. The docket frames the constitutional question as whether those provisions are invalid, in whole or in part, because they impermissibly burden the implied freedom of political communication.
The parties’ arguments center on safety and political speech
Reddit argues that enforcing the age rules is difficult and that the evidence about harm and differences in platform safety is insufficient. It also contends that young people who use platforms without accounts may lose account-based safety features.
The Digital Freedom Project (DFP) argues that social media gives young Australians under 16 access to news and political communication, as well as connection and support. The Commonwealth’s stated case for the restrictions focuses on risks associated with features such as algorithms, infinite scroll, persistent notifications and likes. These are positions advanced by the parties in the litigation.
DFP’s standing dispute is separate from Reddit’s case
Reddit, Inc. is the named plaintiff in S166/2025. The docket says Reddit’s special case is listed jointly with S163/2025. Separately, the Commonwealth argues that DFP has not identified an activity of its own impeded by the law, challenging the group’s standing to bring its case.
The docket’s filing sequence
The docket lists Reddit’s application dated December 12, 2025; the plaintiff’s written submissions and chronology dated August 28, 2026; the defendants’ written submissions dated September 25; Reddit’s reply dated October 16; and oral-argument outlines dated November 3.
