New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has sought to establish laws prohibiting minors under 16 from using major social media platforms, citing worries about dangerous material, addictive features, and the influence of social media on young people’s well-being.
The proposed Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill would force platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook to take reasonable steps to verify that users are at least 16 years old. The suggested checks might incorporate existing account information, face age prediction technologies, digital identity services, and formal identification.
Platforms that fail to satisfy their requirements may risk fines of up to 10% of worldwide turnover. The idea would not punish children or their parents. WhatsApp messaging services, the game platform Roblox, and productivity-focused AI applications such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot would all be exempt from the proposed limits.
Luxon stated that the decision was motivated by worries over the amount of time young people spend on social media. According to government statistics, one-third of New Zealanders aged 13 to 17 spend at least five hours every day on social media.
However, the bill faces substantial political challenges. The coalition partners ACT and NZ First have opposed the idea, while the opposition Labor Party has not committed to backing it. With Parliament about to reconvene ahead of New Zealand’s November election, Luxon has recognized that the measure is unlikely to pass before the election and may have to be reintroduced if his government is reelected.
The suggestion comes after Australia introduced the world’s first countrywide social media bans for under-16s in December 2025. The Australian guidelines oblige large platforms to prohibit minors from using their services, with corporations risking fines of up to A$49.5 million for noncompliance.
The policy has sparked comparable debates abroad. In the United Kingdom, the government has held consultations on a possible social media ban for children under the age of 16, as well as options such as limitations on endless scrolling, autoplay, and nighttime access.
There is no statewide social media ban in India for children under 16, but several states have begun investigating the issue. Goa has studied Australia’s policy and stated that it may adopt limits for youngsters under 16, while Andhra Pradesh has also looked into foreign legislation. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah then proposed limiting social media use for under-16s, although no implementation date has been specified.
New Zealand’s move contributes to a growing international push to hold social media companies more accountable for protecting children online, while also raising concerns about age verification, privacy, enforcement, and whether blanket restrictions can effectively limit young people’s exposure to harmful content.
