New Zealand Proposes Social Media Ban for Children Under 16
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s conservative coalition government announced plans to introduce a bill in Parliament on Monday that seeks to ban children under 16 from using social media. The proposed legislation carries fines of up to 10% of a platform’s global revenue for non-compliance.
Verification Requirements and Proposed Penalties
The upcoming legislation would force social media corporations to implement reasonable age-verification measures. These compliance steps would utilize existing account data, facial technology, and digital identity documents. Prime Minister Luxon stated that the administration cannot accept ongoing harms impacting younger demographics.
“We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” Luxon said in a statement released 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.”
Coalition Divisions and International Precedents
Winston Peters, the country’s foreign minister and leader of the New Zealand First party—one of Luxon’s coalition partners—stated on X that his party would not support the bill. Peters pointed to Australia’s recent digital restriction rollout, which took effect in December as the world’s first country to ban social media for children under 16, describing that effort as a “colossal failure.” Peters argued that restricting children from these platforms should remain the responsibility of parents rather than the state, expressing concern over the slippery slope of such laws.
Prime Minister Luxon acknowledged the enforcement hurdles facing the government’s proposal. “I won’t pretend that it will be simple or that it will be perfect,” Luxon said at an event. “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.”