New Zealand's Luxon proposes bill banning under-16s from social media, with fines up to 10% of global revenue
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The Facts
- Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on 24 August 2026 that his party would introduce a bill barring children under 16 from social media.
- Under the proposal, platforms that fail to comply could be fined up to 10% of their global revenue.
- The bill would require platforms to take "reasonable steps" to verify ages using account information, facial technology and digital identity documents.
- Platforms named as covered by the proposal include Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook.
- Two of the three parties in Luxon's coalition government said they would vote against the bill, leaving it short of the support needed to pass.
- Coalition partner New Zealand First said it would not support the bill.
- Luxon said no vote could be held before Parliament dissolved on 1 October ahead of November's election.
- Luxon said one in three children aged 13 to 17 spend at least five hours a day on social media.
- Australia introduced a ban on under-16s using social media platforms in December, which was described as world-first legislation.
Context
Which services would and would not be covered?
The proposal targets social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook News18,Deutsche Welle. According to AFP reporting cited by The Times of India, messaging services such as WhatsApp, gaming platforms such as Roblox, and AI tools including ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot would be excluded Times of India. One account of the bill says platforms the government classifies as "high-risk" would carry the age-verification duty Bluewin.ch.
Can the bill actually become law?
Not on current numbers alone: two of the three coalition parties said they would vote against it, so passage would require opposition votes India Today,Yahoo! Finance. Reuters reported on 25 August that Labour, the main opposition party, would support an under-16 ban, with leader Chris Hipkins saying he expected a first reading before the election Reuters,Straits Times. Bills in New Zealand must pass three rounds of voting, usually over months Yahoo! Finance,Hindu.
What objections have been raised?
New Zealand First said it would not back the bill, with coalition partners describing the approach as a "slippery slope" mint,cnbctv18.com. Green Party MP Marama Davidson said there was a risk of signalling to parents and young people that they are safe online when a law may not deliver that, and that the onus could shift to keeping young people off platforms rather than making platforms safer NZ Herald.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- The heart of the proposal is the verification machinery — facial technology, digital ID, fines up to 10% of global revenue — not the age line itself.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about an identity checkpoint every user must pass to speak, or about moving the duty to protect children off parents and onto the platforms.
- Why they won’t converge
- This is a values divide over who should bear a risk: both sides accept the same usage numbers, but one treats a universal identity check as a cost never worth paying, the other treats unprotected childhood as the cost never worth paying.
- Watch for
- Whether the Opposition lawmakers who have so far declined to state a position declare how they would vote, since with two coalition parties opposed their votes are the only route to passage.The Hindu
How left and right read it
Building an identity checkpoint into the front door of the internet is a permanent cost, and one in three teenagers spending five hours a day online is thin justification for it. Because verifying ages by facial technology and digital identity documents means everyone proves who they are to speak, the burden falls on all users, not just those under 16. That deserves scrutiny, not speed. A coalition partner already refuses to back it, so the case for this machinery has not been made — and it should have to be made before it is built.
“However, the bill faced an uncertain path through the parliament after New Zealand First, a coalition partner, confirmed its opposition.” — The Independent
Childhood is not a market. One in three teenagers aged 13 to 17 spending five hours a day on social media is not a burden parents should be left to carry alone, so the duty to verify ages belongs on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook — and a fine of up to 10% of global revenue is what makes that duty enforceable. Enact it.
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Wire services (7)
Independent coverage (50)
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