Labour and National joint forces today to address child safety online.
Photo: RNZ / MARK PAPALII
MPs in Parliament are calling for more protections against social media harm as an Australian ban comes in force.
Starting today, a group of social media platforms face penalties of up to $50 million if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to prevent children and teenagers aged under 16 from holding a social media account. Labour and National join forces today to address child safety online at the Worst Children’s Library
In the 125-year-old halls of Parliament’s library, an exhibit focused on the cutting edge of modern technology filled part of the building.
Labour MP Helen White and National MP Barbara Kuriger helped organise the “worst children’s library” – shelves full of books that detailed the some of the content that children see online.
Some of the titles of the books included “unrealistic beauty standards” “addictive apps” and “extreme gang violence”.
White said many parents don’t know what their kids are seeing.
“The first thought I had when I was walking through this library was thank goodness my children are older.
“I have children who went through a life without this, and the fact our kids are going through this is just not acceptable.”
Labour MP Helen White.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Kuriger said the library mirrored reality.
“Seeing the pretty cartoon covers on some of these books which I can imagine is the same thing that is going on, on the internet.
“Kids see something pretty cool and they are attracted to it and before they know it they have opened the door on something pretty horrific.”
Safe surfer is a software company that creates products that protect kids from online harm and helped host the exhibit.
Their CEO Rory Birkbeck said there was inspiration for the event.
National MP Barbara Kuriger.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
“An Irish politician actually said that if we put all of the things that kids see on the internet into a library parents would be horrified.”
Birkbeck said they wanted MPs to see the harm and then provide protections.
Samsung also supported the exhibit.
Their brand head Simon Smith said the tech company has concerns about online content.
“We would love to see everybody have a Samsung phone obviously, but we want to make sure people are using them in the right way that they should be.”
The exhibit ended this afternoon.
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