New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced plans to introduce legislation seeking to ban children under 16 from using social media, with platforms facing fines of up to 10% of their global revenue for failing to comply.
Under the proposed legislation, social media companies would be required to take reasonable steps to verify users’ ages, including through existing account information, facial recognition technology and digital identity documents.
“We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” Luxon said in a statement on Monday.
“Social media is exposing them to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with, and it’s affecting their family life, mental health, sleep and education.”
The proposal received a boost on Tuesday after the opposition Labour Party said it would support a ban on social media for under-16s, removing a major political obstacle to the legislation.
However, Luxon’s coalition partner, New Zealand First, has opposed the proposal.
Party leader and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his party was concerned about the direction of the legislation and described Australia’s under-16 social media ban as a “colossal failure”.
“We have been concerned with the proposed legislation and the direction and slippery slope that legislation like this will inevitably take our country,” Peters said in a post on X.
Peters also argued that keeping children off social media should primarily be the responsibility of parents.
Australia became the first country to introduce a nationwide social media ban for children under 16 in December, restricting access to platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Luxon acknowledged that enforcing a similar restriction in New Zealand would be difficult but said the government had a responsibility to act.
“I won’t pretend that it will be simple or that it will be perfect,” he said.
“We won’t get every single child off social media. Some will always find ways around it, but frankly, it’s just way too important not to at least try.”
