The Australian government has acknowledged it introduced its under-16s social media ban without scientific consensus establishing a link between social media use and mental health harms, arguing instead that "credible risks" of issues like addiction and anxiety were enough to justify the policy.

The admission was made in the defence of the government in response to a challenge at the High Court filed by Reddit, which is one of the two challenges against the ban anticipated to be considered together before the year 2026.

In its submission last........

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