New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, has announced plans to introduce a bill in parliament that would ban children under 16 from using social media. The proposed legislation would require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to verify users’ ages, including utilizing existing account information, facial technology, and digital identity documents. Non-compliant platforms would face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue.
Luxon stated that the government cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children, citing exposure to harmful content, addictive technology, and pressures that affect their family life, mental health, sleep, and education. However, the bill’s passage through parliament is uncertain, with one of Luxon’s coalition partners, the New Zealand First party, expressing opposition. New Zealand First’s leader, Winston Peters, who is also the country’s foreign minister, described a similar law in Australia as a ‘colossal failure’.
In December, Australia became the world’s first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube, and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook. Peters stated that keeping children off social media should be the responsibility of parents, adding that the proposed legislation would take the country down a ‘slippery slope’. Luxon conceded that the challenge ahead would not be simple or perfect, saying ’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.’
