New Zealand has introduced legislation to ban children under 16 from accessing social media platforms and AI companion apps, including some of the world’s most widely used services, following similar moves by Australia and other countries wrestling with how to protect young people from social media harms and the risks of algorithmically driven digital platforms.
The New Zealand Online Safety Bill, which has not yet specified which platforms will be affected, leaves that determination to a regulator. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon named Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook as the likely targets in New Zealand when announcing the legislation. The regulator will evaluate platforms based on features including algorithm-driven recommendation feeds, endless scroll, reaction counts and disappearing stories when determining which services fall within the ban’s scope.
The bill requires platform operators to verify whether users are above or below the age threshold through various methods and technologies, a requirement that puts the enforcement burden on companies rather than on parents or young people themselves.
What the bill does differently
New Zealand introduced the legislation with an awareness of enforcement challenges that have emerged in Australia, which enacted a social media ban for under-16s. Australian regulators have since warned technology companies as a substantial number of teenagers found ways to bypass the restrictions. The New Zealand legislation attempts to address those loopholes by placing stronger obligations on platform operators to proactively verify ages rather than relying on self-reporting.
The inclusion of AI companion apps alongside social media is notable. AI companion applications, which use conversational artificial intelligence to simulate relationships and provide emotional support to users, have attracted significant concern from researchers and parents who argue they are particularly poorly suited for minors given the parasocial dynamics they can create and their potential to displace human connection during formative social development.
The regulatory approach
Leaving the identification of specific platforms to a regulator rather than writing them into the legislation directly gives the law flexibility to adapt as new platforms emerge. Social media platforms that did not exist when legislation was written have repeatedly been a problem in earlier attempts to regulate online spaces.
The feature-based assessment model, in which the regulator examines what a platform does rather than simply what it is called, makes it more difficult for companies to argue they are excluded from the rules by making minor changes to their product.
The international picture
New Zealand joins a growing number of countries attempting age restrictions or social media bans for minors. Australia’s legislation, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, France’s online restrictions and several U.S. state laws represent different approaches to the same underlying concern. The effectiveness of any of these frameworks depends substantially on the enforcement mechanism and on the degree to which platform operators cooperate.
The New Zealand bill has not yet passed and remains subject to parliamentary deliberation and amendment. The social media provisions will take effect only after the regulator completes its platform assessment process.
