新西兰政府提出禁止16岁以下儿童使用高风险社交媒体平台的法案

CANBERRA -- New Zealand's government introduced legislation on Monday to ban children under 16 years old from social media, becoming the latest country to threaten some of the world's largest tech companies with penalties should they fail to exclude most kids from their services.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told journalists that action was needed to protect children from addictive, algorithm-driven services, saying "Big Tech" had refused to act.
"One in three of our teenagers now spends five hours or more a day on social media, and when you ask the young people themselves, nearly 40% say they wish social media had never been invented," he said. "Just let that sink in: Our own kids are telling us this thing is doing them harm."
Social media companies have faced increased scrutiny over the impact of their platforms on the young, prompting a growing amount of regulation around the world. Australia last year became the first country to place a legal onus on companies to take "reasonable steps" to restrict access to under-16s. Others have since taken similar steps. Indonesia announced that under-16s would be barred from social media in March, while Malaysia is also rolling out restrictions.
Similar to Australia's legislation, New Zealand's bill would require "high-risk" services like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook to "take reasonable steps" to ensure users are over 16 years old. Platforms must provide more than one way of verifying age as to not solely rely on formal identification. These can include using existing account information, facial age estimation and digital ID services.
Platforms must also regularly report on their work to reduce risks for children, with the bill establishing an online safety regulator within the Department of Internal Affairs to monitor compliance, investigate platforms and enforce the law. Companies would face penalties of up to 10% of their global revenue for failing to meet their obligations. The legislation will also cover emerging technology like artificial intelligence companion platforms.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the bill brought New Zealand into line with other countries and emphasized that it placed legal obligations on platforms, not on children, parents or caregivers.
She said building similar frameworks as other countries was vital to pressure large tech firms.
"It was really important for us to be in lockstep with everybody else because I can tell you something right now for free: Meta is not getting out of bed for $100 million, they're probably not even getting out of bed for $200 million," she said.
Passage of the bill, however, remains unclear. Luxon said the legislation was unlikely to progress before New Zealand's election in November. Even then, his National Party will need to garner additional support to pass the law, with its two junior coalition partners, New Zealand First and ACT New Zealand, opposing the legislation in its current form.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the party had invoked "agree to disagree" provisions in the coalition arrangement. In a statement, he said that while the party agreed with the intent of the reform, it had concerns about its feasibility and direction, saying it could compromise privacy and freedoms and lead to a "Soviet-era outcome."
"The fact is, no matter how laudable the intent is of introducing laws to address this serious issue, there is no method that would fulfil that intent without banning VPNs or the use of digital ID to enforce the law," Peters said in a statement. referring to virtual private networks. "This has been proven with the colossal failure of Australia bringing in similar measures that National want to bring in now."
Australia's eSafety commission, its online harm regulator, earlier this year, announced it was investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube over "significant concerns" about their compliance with its legislation. In June, the government announced it was doubling the penalties amid reports many children were still able to access the services.
ACT New Zealand leader David Seymour also cited the difficulties confronted by Australia in enforcing its ban.
"Before Parliament creates another powerful regulator, imposes widespread online identification, or starts restricting legitimate privacy tools, it should be able to show those measures are necessary and will actually work," he said.
"ACT won't support a policy just because it sounds tough or polls well. The test should be whether it works, and whether the cure is worse than the disease."
Luxon acknowledged that other parties, including his coalition partners, would form their own views.
"But the reality for us is that we have heard loud and clear in our conversations with parents up and down this country for some time that there is a need for us to make an intervention to do something," said Luxon.
Additional reporting by Sophie Mak in Sydney