New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is pressing ahead with legislation to ban children under 16 from social media, after the main opposition Labour Party backed the proposal on Tuesday, despite two coalition partners opposing it and an election looming in November.
The bill would require platforms to take reasonable steps to verify users’ ages, including through existing account information, facial age estimation and digital identity documents. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to 10 per cent of their global revenue.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the party would support the measure, removing a major obstacle to its passage through Parliament. “With Labour’s support there is no reason for the government to delay the bill and we expect to see it in through its first reading before the election,” he said in a statement.
Luxon said the legislation was needed because of the effects he attributed to social media use among children. “We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” he said, citing harmful content, addictive technology and pressures affecting family life, mental health, sleep and education.
The proposal remains politically uncertain because Luxon’s coalition partners, New Zealand First and ACT, have said they will not support it. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the party was concerned about the legislation and the “slippery slope” it could create, while arguing that responsibility for keeping children off social media should rest with parents.
The proposal follows Australia’s decision in December to become the first country to prohibit social media access for under-16s. The Australian rules cover platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, although enforcement has proved difficult and many children have continued to access restricted services.
New Zealand’s government has said platforms regularly used by children would need to assess the risks they pose and report on measures to identify and reduce those risks. No penalties are proposed for children, parents or caregivers under the planned legislation.
Luxon acknowledged that enforcement would be imperfect but said the government intended to proceed. “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,” he said.
