New Zealand’s prime minister proposes banning children from using social media
Platforms could face fines of up to 10% of global revenue if they fail to verify users’ ages and report risks, Luxon said.
- Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced Monday that New Zealand will introduce legislation banning social media for children under 16, aiming to protect young people from harmful content and addictive technology.
- The proposed law mandates Big Tech firms implement age-verification measures using digital identity documents and facial technology, with penalties of up to 10 per cent of global revenues for non-compliance.
- "We simply can't accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children," Luxon said, acknowledging the plan's complexity: "I won't pretend that it will be simple or that it will be perfect."
- New Zealand First, a coalition partner, confirmed its opposition to the bill after its leader Winston Peters called the measure a "colossal failure" and warned of a "slippery slope."
- Australia became the first country to ban social media for under-16s in December, restricting access to TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube, and Meta's Instagram and Facebook, establishing a global precedent.
180 Articles
180 Articles
New Zealand Introduces Bill To Ban Social Media For Under-16s
New Zealand is moving to restrict social media access for anyone under 16, but will the plan actually work?Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says children are being exposed to harmful content. They are also being exposed to addictive technology and online pressures they are not ready to handle.Under the proposed Online Safety Bill, platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook would have to take “reasonable steps” to verify users’ ag…
It will require platforms to take measures to verify age, including using account information, facial recognition technology and digital identification documents.
New Zealand Pledges Under-16 Social Media Ban, Big Tech Required to Infer User Age
New Zealand is the latest country to try ban under-16-year-olds from accessing social media platforms, in addition to AI companion apps. The Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill has yet to identify which platforms will be affected, leaving that to be decided by the regulator. However, in announcing the bill, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon named Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook as likely targets. The regulat…
New Zealand Bans Social Media for Under-16s to Protect Youth Mental Health
New Zealand has taken a bold step in regulating young people’s access to social media by passing legislation that prohibits anyone under the age of 16 from creating accounts on major platforms. The law, which received royal assent this week, marks one of the strictest national approaches to online age restrictions seen anywhere in the world. According to reporting from Mashable, the measure aims to shield children and teenagers from the document…
Last news from New Zealand, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said last Monday that his conservative party, New Zealand National Party, will introduce a bill that seeks to ban the use of social media for children under 16 years of age, Reuters reports. The proposal requires network platforms to verify the age of their users using already available information such as account data, facial recognition technology and digital identity of documents. F…
The New Zealand prime minister proposes a social media ban for children under 16
New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, has unveiled a proposed law banning children younger than 16 from using social media platforms, citing what he said Monday was “harm being done to a generation” of young people. However, the bill hasn’t yet attracted enough support to pass into law because two of the three parties in Luxon’s coalition government will vote against it. Passage would require support from opposition lawmakers, who hav…
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