Daijiworld Media Network - Wellington

Wellington, Aug 24: New Zealand's government will introduce legislation on Monday to ban children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms, following Australia's move to restrict young teenagers from accessing major online services.

The proposed Online Safety Bill would require social media companies such as Meta to take steps to prevent under-16s from accessing their platforms. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to 10 per cent of their global revenue.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government could not accept the harm being caused to a generation of New Zealand children.

According to Luxon, one in three New Zealanders aged between 13 and 17 spends at least five hours a day on social media.

He said social media was exposing young people to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they were not equipped to handle, affecting their family life, mental health, sleep and education.

Luxon specifically named Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook, saying platforms would have to take “reasonable steps” to establish that users were at least 16 years old.

The proposed age-verification measures could include existing account information, facial age estimation, digital identity services and formal identification documents.

Under the legislation, social media companies would also have to assess the risks associated with their platforms and report on measures being taken to reduce those risks.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the proposed law would place legal obligations on social media platforms rather than children and their families.

“No penalties are proposed for children, their parents or caregivers,” Stanford said.

However, the legislation faces uncertainty as both of the National Party-led government's coalition partners, the libertarian ACT Party and NZ First, have opposed the proposal.

NZ First said it could not support the legislation, citing what it described as the “colossal failure” of Australia's law.

ACT has also said it believes the proposed restrictions “won't work”, arguing that teenagers would find ways to circumvent the ban.

New Zealand has been examining restrictions on children's social media use for more than a year. The move follows Australia's introduction of what was described as the world's first social media minimum-age law in December.

Australia's legislation restricts under-16s from accessing platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with the government citing concerns about online bullying and algorithms that can expose children to harmful content.

However, a peer-reviewed study by Australia-based researchers published in June found little evidence that teenagers had significantly reduced their use of social media as a result of the restrictions.

New Zealand's proposed legislation will therefore face scrutiny over both its effectiveness and practical enforcement, particularly regarding how platforms will verify users' ages while protecting their privacy.