New Zealand’s government has signaled its support for a bill to ban social media for children under 16, but without explicitly making it a government initiative.
The bill that will enact the ban was put forwarded on Tuesday by member of Parliament Catherine Wedd and is what New Zealand calls a “member’s bill” – a law proposed by an MP that isn’t formally part of the government’s agenda.
Wedd represents the ruling National Party and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appeared with her in a video during which he endorsed the bill as a fine idea.
For all the good social media provides, it is not always a safe place, and we need to do something about it
On his X account he opined: “We have restrictions to keep our children safe in the physical world, but we don’t have restrictions in the virtual world – and we should.”
“Parents and teachers are constantly telling me they’re worried about the impact social media is having on children – namely through cyber-bullying, inappropriate content, and social media addiction,” Luxon wrote, before adding “It is time New Zealand acknowledged that for all the good social media provides us, it is not always a safe place for our young people to be, and we need to do something about it.”
New Zealand has already banned use of smartphones in schools, and Luxon cited the “increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes” that followed as proof regulating kids’ access to tech can work.
The National Party Luxon leads is conservative, and his post reflects that with the observation “Obviously parents have a role to play in monitoring what social media their children are on”. But he thinks social media companies should do likewise.
“It is time we put the onus on these platforms to protect children from harmful online content,” he wrote.
The bill proposes requiring social media companies to verify the age of new users, plus penalties of up to NZ$2million ($1.2 million) for getting it wrong.
But there’s no timetable for the Bill to reach the floor of Parliament because, as a member’s bill, Webb has to advocate for it without party machinery to back her efforts.
It’s therefore not certain the law will make it to a vote, never mind pass, as the National Party helms a coalition government. At least New Zealand’s opposition has expressed interest in the bill.
New Zealand is home to just five million people, so social media players could exile the country without harming their revenues. But the likes of Meta, X, and Google might be moved by the combined populations of New Zealand, Australia and the UK all require age verification – as looks possible as Australia’s recently re-elected government promised to make its proposed age verification scheme a priority, and the UK is pondering a similar initiative. ®
