New Zealand's government introduced the Online Safety Bill to parliament on Monday, seeking to ban children under 16 from using social media.
The proposed Online Safety Bill would fine platforms up to 10% of global revenue, but two of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's own coalition partners have already said they won't back it.
The bill would require "high-risk" platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube, to take reasonable steps to verify that users are at least 16 years old.
Companies that fail to comply could face penalties of up to 10% of their global revenue.
"We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children," Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said, adding that one in three children aged 13 to 17 now spend at least five hours a day on social media.
The move follows neighbouring Australia, which became the first country to enforce a social media age ban in December 2025.
How Platforms Would Verify Age
Under the bill, platforms would be able to confirm a user's age through existing account information, facial age estimation, digital ID services or formal identification documents.
Firms would be required to regularly assess the risks their platforms pose to young users and report on how they're addressing them. The bill extends the same obligations to emerging technologies, including AI companion platforms.
Education Minister Erica Stanford framed the bill as a way of "backing parents and holding Big Tech accountable."
Coalition Partners Push Back
Luxon's National Party leads a three-way coalition, and the bill needs support from its partners, ACT and New Zealand First, to pass.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has confirmed that his party won't support it, calling it a "slippery slope" that would ultimately require banning VPNs or mandating digital ID to enforce. He claimed that Australia's rollout was a "colossal failure."
ACT leader David Seymour dismissed the bill as "an unserious solution to a serious problem."
Without their support, the bill would need backing from opposition parties, who have yet to say how they'll vote.
Labour has submitted a list of questions it wants answered before taking a position.
Adding to the uncertainty, New Zealand's parliament is due to dissolve on 1 October ahead of a November election, and legislation must clear three rounds of voting to become law. Luxon has acknowledged there wasn't enough time left to secure a vote before then.
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The Evidence Question
New Zealand's proposal leans heavily on the existing ban in Australia, but the evidence from that rollout is mixed.
A peer-reviewed study by Australia-based researchers, published in June, found little indication that teenagers have actually moved away from social media as a result of the ban.
Civil-liberties group PILLAR has raised similar concerns about New Zealand's bill, arguing it risks creating privacy problems without solving the underlying harm. "Aligning with international efforts may sound responsible, but it is lazy policymaking," PILLAR executive director Nathan Seiuli said.
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