New Zealand plans to ban under-16s from social media, joining a throng of countries worldwide seeking to limit online harm to children.
The government will introduce the Online Safety Bill on Monday that will require high-risk social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook to take reasonable steps to check users are over the age of 16, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told reporters. The law is unlikely to progress before a Nov. 7 election.
Penalties for companies that fail to meet their obligations will be significant - potentially as much as 10% of a platform's global revenue, Luxon said.
New Zealand has become the latest country to emulate Australia, which barred under-16s from using social media in late 2025. Since then more than two dozen countries have either enacted their own bans or are weighing similar restrictions. They include a number of European states as well as developing nations such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil.
Still, Australia's world-first legislation has its limits - it led to only a marginal reduction in underage users in its first three months, underscoring the lack of enforcement by major platforms operated by companies including Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc. And many teenagers appear to be finding ways around it.
ALSO READ: Govt Bans Cold-Medicines With These Two Ingredients For Kids Under 4: Check Names, Details
"We're part of a global network of countries with similar legislative frameworks in place and that's what we're working toward," Luxon said. "There's real power in the fact that we are acting in concert with many other countries around the world."
Luxon said big tech firms may be able to ignore the requests of individual small nations, but many nations working in "lock step" can have more sway.
"If I'm a CEO of one of those big tech firms and I have 42 countries that have a similar framework and a similar approach, I'm paying attention to that," he said.
Education Minister Erica Stanford, who is shepherding the bill into parliament, said Australia, the UK and nations across Europe are looking at working together to combat the harm from social media platforms. A number of US states have begun lawsuits against companies including Meta claiming that by engineering their platforms to be hard to resist, the companies are causing serious harm to young users.
"We are part of a global movement to protect our kids," she said.
Luxon said one in three children between the ages of 13 and 17 spends at least five hours on social media a day, exposing themselves to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with. It's affecting their family life, mental health, sleep and education," he said.
"We can no longer sit back and just wait for the big tech companies to fix this on their own. They've had years to act and they haven't," said Luxon.
Coalition Partners
The government, which is a coalition made up of three parties - Luxon's National, New Zealand First and the ACT Party - may also face difficulty getting the bill passed into law.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said in a statement that while his party agreed with the intent of the bill, it won't be supporting the progression of legislation.
"The fact is, no matter how laudable the intent is of introducing laws to address this serious issue, there is no method that would fulfill that intent without banning VPNs or the use of digital ID to enforce the law," he said. "This has been proven with the colossal failure of Australia bringing in similar measures that National want to bring in now."
The libertarian ACT Party will also not support the legislation, meaning National will have to rely on the support of opposition parties Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Maori.
"ACT won't support a policy just because it sounds tough or polls well," leader David Seymour said. "The test should be whether it works, and whether the cure is worse than the disease."
Luxon said the bill won't progress through parliament prior to the Nov. 7 election so it will be up to all parties in parliament after the vote to decide whether they will back it.
ALSO READ: Should Children Under 13 Be Banned From Social Media? BJP MP's SHIELD Bill Explained
'Significant Penalties'
Luxon said media platform operators will need to use methods including existing account information, facial age estimation, digital ID services and formal ID to identify their users. They will also need to regularly assess the risks their platforms pose and report on how those risks are being identified and reduced.
Messaging services such as WhatsApp will not be included in the ban, nor will multiplayer games such as Roblox Corp.
The bill will also bring emerging technologies, including AI companion platforms, within the regulatory framework, and establish an online safety regulator within the Department of Internal Affairs to independently monitor compliance, investigate platforms and enforce the law, according to the statement.
Last year, the center-right coalition government was unable to agree on moving ahead with a ban after junior partner ACT said an initial proposal would prove unworkable. A parliamentary select committee subsequently held an inquiry into the harms of social media on young people.
Rachel Tan, a law lecturer at the University of Waikato, said the effectiveness of the regime will depend heavily on its implementation.
"Methods such as facial age estimation, digital ID and analysis of existing account information still raise important questions about accuracy, privacy and how these systems will operate in practice," Tan said in a statement.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.