Government to introduce under-16 social media ban bill as coalition partners withhold support
The government will introduce legislation on Monday to ban social media for under-16s, with Education Minister Erica Stanford leading the work.
The bill establishes an online safety regulator within the Department of Internal Affairs, equipped to monitor, investigate and enforce compliance. It also sets up a penalty regime targeting social media companies rather than users. Stanford said the bill places legal obligations on platforms and proposes no penalties for children, their parents or caregivers RNZ.
"High risk" platforms named in the bill include Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, X and Facebook. These would be required to take reasonable steps to verify users are over 16. Acceptable methods under the bill include using existing account information, facial age estimation, digital ID services and formal ID. Platforms would also need to regularly assess the risks they pose and report on how those risks are being identified and reduced.
Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Discord, and online games like Roblox, are excluded from the bill's scope. AI chatbots primarily for productivity, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, are also out of scope, but social AI companions are covered by the ban.
A government factsheet outlines the risks the bill targets: illegal content, harmful content including grooming, cyberbullying, harassment and AI deepfakes, advertising and behavioural profiling, and service design and function.
The legislation's path through Parliament is uncertain. ACT and New Zealand First will not support the bill, having invoked the agree-to-disagree clause available under the coalition framework. That means National will need Labour's support to get the bill past its first reading.
ACT leader David Seymour said the proposed ban won't work and will have side effects. Labour has also indicated it may not support the bill. Science and technology spokesperson Reuben Davidson wrote to Stanford outlining matters the party wants addressed before it will consider backing the legislation.
Davidson's letter asked about consultation with children and young people, how operators could demonstrate compliance, publication of a full privacy impact assessment, and how penalties would be enforced.
The bill follows the government's May 2025 announcement that social media restrictions for under-16s would become part of its work programme, with Stanford tasked to lead the work Beehive. National MP Catherine Wedd's members' bill relates to that work programme.
The broader context here is international. Australia became the first country to enact a sweeping ban on social media use by children under 16, with its law requiring major platforms to block minors from 10 December 2025 Reuters. Australia's eSafety regulator describes its age restrictions as "a delay to having accounts" rather than a ban, and notes there are no penalties for under-16s who access an age-restricted platform eSafety.
New Zealand's approach mirrors Australia's in placing compliance burden on platforms rather than individuals, but the parliamentary arithmetic is the immediate test. With both coalition partners withholding support, the bill's survival at first reading depends on whether Labour's concerns are sufficiently addressed. Davidson's letter signals Labour is engaged with the policy detail rather than dismissing it outright, but the party has stopped short of committing to support the legislation.
For those watching the legislative process, the key question is whether Stanford can satisfy Labour's information requests quickly enough to secure first-reading support, or whether the bill stalls at the first hurdle. The agree-to-disagree mechanism means ACT and NZ First face no consequence for withholding support, leaving National to negotiate across the aisle in a scenario that will test the government's ability to advance signature social policy without its own coalition partners.
