New Zealand’s national government is set to table a landmark piece of legislation Monday that would enforce a sweeping ban on social media use for all users under the age of 16, marking one of the world’s most aggressive regulatory pushes to curb minor exposure to harmful online content. If passed, the rules would require major platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook to implement mandatory age verification checks, utilizing tools ranging from existing user account data to facial age estimation technology and formal digital identity screening to confirm user ages. Non-compliant platforms that fail to meet their regulatory obligations would face crippling fines of up to 10 percent of their annual global revenue, a penalty far steeper than the maximum $99 million Australian fine imposed for similar violations. Importantly, no penalties would apply to underage users, their parents or caregivers for accessing platforms under the proposed framework.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who has spearheaded the policy push, framed the ban as a critical public protection measure. He argued that unregulated social media exposes developing minors to toxic harmful content, algorithmically driven addictive design, and social pressures that young people lack the emotional and cognitive maturity to navigate, with well-documented negative impacts on children’s family relationships, mental health, sleep quality and academic performance. “We have long enforced protections to keep children safe in the physical world, and it is past time we put equivalent safeguards in place for the virtual spaces they inhabit every day,” Luxon said in a public statement on the policy. To date, the government has not released a full list of additional “high-risk” platforms that would be covered by the new rules, beyond the major social media sites already named. The legislation also includes additional requirements for platforms regularly accessed by minors: they must conduct regular, transparent assessments of the harms their services pose to young users, and publish public reports detailing how they are identifying and mitigating these risks.
Despite being put forward by the ruling government coalition, the bill faces major immediate uncertainty over its path to passage. Two of the government’s three coalition partners — the Act Party and New Zealand First (NZF) — have already publicly confirmed they will vote against the legislation, leaving it short of the required support to become law. Act leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has publicly rejected the policy, arguing that the proposed ban will not deliver on its stated goals of reducing minor exposure to harm. NZF leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters went further, saying his party has deep concerns about the overreach of the legislation, warning that it sets a precedent that will lead to ever-expanding state control of online speech, a slippery slope he says threatens New Zealand’s civil liberties. Peters also labeled Australia’s national under-16 social media ban, implemented in December 2024, a “colossal failure,” noting that Australian regulators have struggled to enforce the rule, with widespread reports that underage users have continued to access banned platforms without meaningful disruption.
New Zealand’s proposal is the latest in a growing global wave of regulatory action targeting underage social media use. Australia already enacted a similar ban last year, while the United Kingdom and Greece have announced plans to introduce their own targeted restrictions on minor social media access in 2026. However, the policy push has faced significant pushback globally in recent weeks: earlier this month, France’s highest constitutional court struck down a similar proposed under-16 ban, ruling that the policy infringed on constitutional protections for freedom of expression and digital access.
The New Zealand policy debate comes as policymakers around the world grapple with competing priorities: protecting vulnerable young people from well-documented online harms, while avoiding overregulation that could restrict digital access and free expression, and addressing practical challenges around effective enforcement of age-based bans.