Bill in Parliament — not law yet

The under-16 social media ban, explained.

New Zealand is deciding whether people under 16 should be allowed on social media. Here’s what’s actually proposed, where it’s up to, and what it would mean for your household — in plain English, with sources for everything.

Have your say — take the poll Parents’ guide

The poll

14 questions, anonymous, about two minutes — including the enforcement questions most polls never ask.

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For parents

Set up age controls on every phone, console and the home Wi-Fi tonight — free, step by step.

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Resources

The bill itself, official reports, help lines for families, and the strongest arguments from both sides.

Browse resources →

FAQ

The bill, question by question — which apps, age checks, your data, penalties, VPNs — with clause numbers.

Read the FAQ →

Ask the bill

Type any question and get a neutral answer grounded in the bill’s full text, in plain English.

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What’s proposed

The rules, in four cards

From the Government’s Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill, introduced on 24 August 2026 — with the full text now published. These details come from the bill itself; you can read it in full, or ask it anything on the Ask page.

Under 16

No accounts on platforms with risky features — algorithmic feeds, endless scroll, likes and view counts, disappearing stories — plus “social AI companions”. The bill names features, not platforms.

Age checks

A typed-in birthdate doesn’t count as a “reasonable step” — and platforms can’t make formal ID the only route: they must offer alternatives such as face-age estimation.

$40m+

The top-tier maximum penalty — or 10% of the platform’s global turnover, whichever is greater. Lower tiers: $12m/3% and $4m/1%. The 2025 member’s bill had proposed $2m.

$0

For kids and parents. The bill puts no penalties on children, parents or caregivers.

Out of scope: services that mainly provide person-to-person messaging, email or calls, video gaming, on-demand music and podcasts, reviews and advice, professional networking, education or health services. AI is captured only when it’s designed to simulate a personal relationship.

Where it’s up to

Five things to know

  1. The Government’s bill — the Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill — was introduced to Parliament on 24 August 2026, and its full text is now public.
  2. It does two things: the under-16 account ban, plus a duty most coverage missed — platforms must file annual child-safety risk assessments covering everyone under 18, with a named senior individual criminally liable if one is knowingly false.
  3. Enforcement runs from public warnings up to court-ordered blocking: a regulator inside the Department of Internal Affairs can ask the High Court to cut off a platform’s advertising and payment services, and ultimately to order ISPs and app stores to block it in New Zealand. VPNs are explicitly excluded from blocking orders.
  4. ACT and NZ First have invoked the coalition’s agree-to-disagree provisions and will vote against it; the Greens oppose it too. So it lives or dies on Labour’s votes — Labour is uncommitted, with 79 written questions in to the Government. And there’s no first reading before Parliament rises on 24 September, so the bill’s fate rests with whoever forms the next government after the 7 November election.
  5. If it does pass, it comes into force 6 months after Royal assent, applies to existing accounts as well as new ones, and must be formally reviewed within 2 years.

Last checked 24 August 2026 · sources for every claim on the Resources page.

The bit most people miss

Age checks aren’t just for teenagers

A platform can’t tell who’s under 16 without checking ages across the board — so a ban means adults proving their age too. The bill rules out birthdate tick-boxes as compliance, but it also bans making formal ID the only option: platforms must offer alternatives like facial age estimation or inferring age from account data, and must destroy the information once the check is done. That’s not a critics’ talking point; it’s how the regulator itself describes it:

“To ensure under 16-year-olds are not accessing social media, all users over 16 will be required to verify their age.”
— Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster, June 2025

Whether that trade-off is worth it is the real question in this debate — and it’s exactly what our poll asks.

Overseas so far

New Zealand isn’t first

AustraliaBan in force since December 2025. About 4.7 million under-16 accounts were removed or restricted — but a June 2026 study in the BMJ found 85% of 12–15-year-olds still use social media, and auditors who opened 50 test accounts claiming to be 16 were never once asked to prove it. Canberra’s response has been to double penalties and begin court action against platforms, not to back down.
United KingdomAnnounced its own under-16 ban in June 2026, planned to be in force around spring 2027.
CanadaIntroduced a bill in June 2026 combining an under-16 ban with age verification and platform safety duties.
European UnionBuilt an age-verification app and is reviewing whether to set an EU-wide “digital age” for social media.
Both sides, fairly

The strongest arguments each way

Supporters say
  • Social media is linked to real harm for young people — bullying, addiction-style design, harmful content — and parents can’t fight billion-dollar platforms alone.
  • A clear majority of New Zealanders back a ban: 57.8% in the RNZ–Reid Research poll (June 2025), and 66% in a Curia poll commissioned by the Free Speech Union (November 2025).
  • Even where kids slip through, the law puts the legal duty — and penalties up to the greater of $40m or 10% of a platform’s global turnover — on platforms. Australia hasn’t treated leakage as failure: it has doubled fines and begun court action to force compliance.
  • The bill answers the privacy objection in its own text: age-check data can’t be reused and must be destroyed once the check is done, on pain of the top penalty tier — protections that go beyond the Privacy Act.
Critics say
  • Age checks fall on everyone: adults would have to prove their age to use everyday platforms — and the bill’s last-resort enforcement tool is a court order requiring ISPs and app stores to block a platform for all New Zealanders.
  • Australia’s results show bans leak — six months in, 85% of 12–15-year-olds still use social media, mainly because platforms simply aren’t checking ages.
  • Parental controls, education and platform-design rules target the harm more directly — and they work today without new checks on adults.
  • Majority support softens once enforcement is spelled out: a UK Ipsos poll found support fell from 69% to 50% when respondents were told everyone would have to upload ID, and the Curia poll here found nearly half of New Zealanders worry age checks become a de facto digital ID. No NZ pollster has yet published the follow-up numbers.