New Zealand is moving to bar children under 16 from social media, putting the country alongside a growing group of governments attempting to limit young people’s access to platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
Australia passed the world’s first law banning children from social media in December, while Britain, France and several other countries have since pursued similar measures.
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New Zealand’s proposed legislation would expose companies including Meta to fines worth as much as 10% of their global revenue if they fail to enforce the restrictions.
“We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.
“Social media is exposing them to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with, and it’s affecting their family life, mental health, sleep and education.”
Mr Luxon named Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook among the platforms that would need to take “reasonable steps to check users are over the age of 16”.
Those checks could draw on “existing account information, facial age estimation, digital ID services and formal ID” to establish a user’s age.
The platforms would also have to examine the risks associated with their services and publish reports detailing how those risks are being addressed. Companies that failed to meet the requirements could face penalties.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the bill “places legal obligations on platforms”.
“No penalties are proposed for children, their parents or caregivers,” Ms Stanford said.
Watch: New Zealand PM says social media not always safe for young people
The bill’s prospects remain uncertain because both coalition partners of the National Party – the libertarian ACT party and populist NZ First – have said they oppose it.
NZ First said in a statement that it could not back the proposal because of what it described as the “colossal failure” of Australia’s legislation. ACT said the measure “won’t work”, arguing that teenagers would find ways to bypass the restrictions.
The main opposition Labour Party has presented dozens of questions that it wants answered before deciding whether to support the bill. Among them are how age checks would operate and which services would fall under the law.
“We take this legislation very seriously,” spokesman Reuben Davidson said.
“The safety of young people in Aotearoa New Zealand is at stake and the risks they face in increasingly complex online environments are significant,” he added, using the Maori-language name for the country.
Australia barred under-16s from services including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok last year as part of a crackdown aimed at shielding children from online bullying and “predatory algorithms”.
But a peer-reviewed study published in June by Australia-based researchers found little evidence that teenagers had abandoned social media as a result of the ban.
