Noah Jones sits in a Sydney bedroom scrolling Instagram.
In just over a week, this could be a
thing of the best for the 15-year-old student as Australia's
under 16 social media ban comes into effect on December
10th. But Jones has other plans. He is
a co-plaintiff in a High Court case against Communications Minister
Anika Wells and e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. Jones
argues that the proposed ban isolates teens and infringes on
their rights, effectively silencing their voices. I believe
that as a young Australian, we, we as
a whole will have our constitutional right taken away from
us, and we will also be invisible with this
ban. We won't be able to share our views
or opinions, and we won't be able to hear
others' views and opinions. Political or just about anything
. Instead of cutting kids off from social media,
because we're not the problem, we should be cutting
off the bad things about social media, the,
the online bullies, the predators, and the explicit
content. The law aims to block minors from platforms
such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
and Snapchat. The government says the ban will protect
children from harmful content and online predators, but Jones
said that many under sixteens, including himself, are
likely to find ways around the ban. He said
this pushes them into riskier behavior. And I feel
that it actually puts kids in a more dangerous situation
. Because when kids do things in secret, that's
when things can be really harmful. Say they get
um they experience online bullying or they experience predators,
how are they gonna report that to police or parents
, cos they weren't supposed to be on the social
media platforms in the first place. The lawsuit includes
another 15 year old student and is backed by advocacy
group Digital Freedom Project. It argues the ban infringes
constitutional rights and should be replaced with targeted measures against
cyber bullying and predatory behavior. The case has yet
to be scheduled for hearing. The communications minister and
e-Safety commissioner were not immediately available for comment, but
Wells has said that the government stands by the law
regardless of any legal challenges.