New Zealand’s conservative coalition will submit a bill to parliament on Monday
to ban social media use by under‑16s and to impose fines up to 10% of a
platform’s global revenue for non‑compliance. The draft bill would require
platforms to take reasonable steps to verify user age, including using existing
account data, facial‑recognition technology and digital identity documents.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the measure responds to harms from harmful
content, addictive design and pressures affecting children’s mental health,
sleep and education.
