SYDNEY — Australia’s landmark social media ban faces a legal test on Tuesday, as online platform Reddit urges the nation’s highest court to scrap the world-leading restrictions.

Social media companies have been forced to purge millions of accounts after Australia banned under-16s from the likes of Facebook, TikTok and Reddit last December.

The High Court of Australia will sit on Tuesday and Wednesday as Reddit, one of the most popular websites in the world, argues the laws are misguided and should be overturned.

Reddit has highlighted a number of issues in its written submission to the court, pointing to problems enforcing the ban and a lack of scientific evidence about the harms of social media.

“The evidence so far is that the effectiveness of the ban has been limited,” reads Reddit’s submission.

Australia’s ban works by restricting children under 16 from holding accounts on the world’s biggest social media platforms.

These platforms are responsible for weeding out underage users and face hefty fines if they are found to be falling short of their obligations.

Reddit argued this approach was actually more dangerous, as registered accounts were governed by in-built safety features.