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Reuters

New ⁠Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Monday his party would introduce a bill in parliament that seeks to ban children under 16 from using social media, proposing fines of up to 10 per cent of a ‌platform’s global revenue for non-compliance.
The bill would require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to verify users’ ages, including by using existing account information, facial technology and digital identity documents.
“We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” Luxon said in a statement.
“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.”

It was not immediately clear if the bill would garner sufficient ‌support to pass through parliament, with one of Luxon’s coalition partners, the ⁠New Zealand First ⁠party, saying it would not support it.
“We have been concerned with the proposed legislation and the direction ‌and slippery slope that legislation like this will inevitably take our country,” New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who ‌is also ‌the country’s foreign minister, said in a post on social media.
In December, Australia became ‌the world’s first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking ⁠them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook.
That legislation had been a “colossal ⁠failure”, Peters said, adding that keeping children off social media should be the responsibility of parents.
“I won’t pretend that it will be simple or ‌that it will be perfect,” ‌Luxon said at an event.
“We won’t get every single child off social media. Some will always find ways around it, but frankly, it’s just way too important not to at least try.”


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New Zealand

New Zealand plans social media ban for under-16s backed by big fines

The bill would require social ​media platforms operating in New Zealand to take reasonable steps to verify users’ ages. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

New ⁠Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s proposed bill follows several other countries that have introduced similar measures, including Australia, which became the first country to ban social media for children. Photo: AP

Malaysia clamps down on social media-fuelled hiking risks

Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. Malaysia is mulling checks for high-altitude illness and acute mountain sickness, particularly for climbers attempting Mount Kinabalu. Photo: Shutterstock

People hike at Broga Hill, Semenyih Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock

Southeast Asia wants children off social media. Will it work?

A child uses a mobile phone at a park in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, last month. Photo: EPA

The Roblox logo is seen reflected in a 10-year-old boy’s eyes while he uses an iPad in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Reuters

Teenage girls use their mobile phones to browse social media in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Australia PM: ‘too many children on social media’, ban too easy to avoid

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at Question Time in the House of Representatives at Australian Parliament House in 2024, in Canberra. Photo: TNS

Three boys use their phones while sitting outside a school in Sydney in 2025. Photo: AP

UK to ban under 16s from social media apps including TikTok, YouTube

Students from Ricards Lodge and Rutlish High Schools in Wimbledon, the UK, look at their mobile phones during an interview and discussion about their thoughts on a social media ban for under 16s. Photo: Reuters

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks at 10 Downing Street on Monday, announcing government action to protect children online. Photo: Carlos/Jasso/PA Wire/dpa

Students from Ricards Lodge High School in Wimbledon look at their mobile phones in February. Photo: Reuters

A message that reads “Let them be kids” is projected onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge  in December 2025 to mark a law banning social media for users under 16 in Australia. Photo: Reuters

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Wellington is proposing fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover for tech firms, but a coalition partner has vowed to block the measure


Wellington is proposing fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover for tech firms, but a coalition partner has vowed to block the measure.


New Zealand plans social media ban for under-16s backed by big fines

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Wellington is proposing fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover for tech firms, but a coalition partner has vowed to block the measure

Wellington is proposing fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover for tech firms, but a coalition partner has vowed to block the measure