New Zealand Moves to Ban Children Under 16 From Social Media in Online Safety Bill

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's government introduced the Online Safety Bill in parliament on August 25, seeking to ban children under 16 from using social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. Under the proposal, platforms would be required to 'take reasonable steps' to check users are over 16 using existing account information, facial age estimation, and digital identity checks. Platforms that fail to meet their obligations could face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue, BBC News reported.

Political Headwinds

The bill's path through parliament is uncertain. Both Act and New Zealand First, the coalition partners in Luxon's government, have said they will vote against it. Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, who leads Act, said the ban would not work, while Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, who leads NZF, said the legislation 'will inevitably take our country' down a 'slippery slope.' Peters described Australia's December 2024 ban as a 'colossal failure,' noting that the law has been difficult to enforce and many children under 16 have continued to access banned apps. Earlier this month, France's top court struck down a similar proposed social media ban on freedom-of-expression grounds.

How It Compares

The New Zealand bill follows Australia's social media age ban and would join restrictions planned in the U.K. and Greece next year. Maximum fines are substantially higher than in Australia, where the cap is AUD $99 million (around £51.7 million). Platforms regularly used by children would also be required to assess the risks they pose and report on how they are being identified and reduced. No penalties are proposed for children, parents, or caregivers for breaches of the ban.

Other Policy Action This Week

The New Zealand bill is part of a broader wave of age-based online safety legislation. South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT on August 24 launched the 'ICT Regulatory Sandbox Rapid Regulation Check Service,' a generative-AI-based regulatory search service available to 300 companies. Japan on the same day published draft critical infrastructure cybersecurity guidelines outlining 150 measures, including post-quantum cryptography adoption by 2035 and AI-assisted defenses against cyberattacks that already use AI-generated exploit scripts. Korea also announced national AI ethics principles with three core values and seven guidelines, but experts noted they lack binding force.

What to Watch Through Year-End

Three checkpoints follow. The Online Safety Bill's first reading, expected within weeks, will reveal whether the coalition fracture produces a defeat for the government on the floor or a negotiated redraft. Australia's enforcement data from the December 2024 ban, which the Australian eSafety Commissioner is expected to publish updated figures on in October, will provide the first concrete read on whether age verification technology works at population scale. And the U.K.'s Age Appropriate Design Code implementation timetable, which moves enforcement forward in 2026, will be the third major data point in the year on whether the social-media age-restriction model survives contact with operational reality.