The New Zealand government is expected to introduce a bill in Parliament that would ban the use of social media by children under the age of 16, according to an announcement by Prime Minister Christopher Laxon. The bill is expected to impose fines of up to 10% of the total revenue of platforms that fail to comply.
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The bill will require social media platforms to take reasonable measures to verify the age of their users, using existing account information, facial recognition technology, and digital IDs.
“We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of children in New Zealand,” Laxon said in a statement. “Social media exposes them to dangerous content, addictive technology, and pressures they are unable to cope with, and this affects their family life, mental health, sleep, and education,” he added.
What Winston Peters said in a post
At this point, it is unclear whether the bill will garner enough support to pass Parliament, as one of the parties in the coalition government led by Laxon, New Zealand First, having stated that it will not vote for it.
“We are concerned about the proposed bill and the direction and slippery slope that legislation like this will inevitably lead our country down,” said New Zealand First leader Winston Peters—who also serves as the country’s foreign minister—in a post on X.
In December, Australia became the first country in the world to ban young people under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
“A colossal failure”
This legislation was “a colossal failure,” Peters said, adding that it is the parents’ responsibility to keep their children away from social media.
“I’m not going to pretend it will be easy or that it will be perfect,” Laxon commented. “We’re not going to keep all children off social media. Some will always find ways to get around [the ban], but honestly, this is too important an issue not to at least try,” he added.
Source: CNN Greece
