{"id":314261,"date":"2026-03-05T12:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314261\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T12:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:25:12","slug":"social-media-ban-for-under-16s-mp-who-initiated-inquiry-disappointed-with-predetermined-outcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314261\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media ban for under-16s? MP who initiated inquiry disappointed with \u2018predetermined\u2019 outcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the degree of social, psychological and physiological harms that are occurring … overall, we urge the Government to take urgent action to keep children and young people safe from online harm.\u201d <\/p>\n

It says New Zealand\u2019s \u201cbest hope\u201d to address social media harms is to align itself with other countries such as Australia, which passed world-first legislation in November 2024 <\/a>banning social media for under-16s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ActAct MP Dr Parmjeet Parmar (left) with party leader David Seymour in 2023. She has dissented from the recommendations of the select committee on which she sits. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n

However, its conclusions are not unanimous. Act and the Greens disagreed, for different reasons, with some of the recommendations, including the calls to ban social media for under-16s<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s inquiry was prompted by Parmar, who now says she is disappointed with the outcome and that committee members came to the inquiry with predetermined solutions.<\/p>\n

In the report, Act says the committee \u201csubstantially failed\u201d in its task of \u201cexamining the harm that young New Zealanders encounter online and identifying proportional and actionable interventions to address those harms\u201d.<\/p>\n

And \u201cworse\u201d, the party continued, the proposed measures would expand the Government\u2019s over-reach through \u201cnew regulators with unclear mandates\u201d.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s primary concerns around a social media ban included whether New Zealanders would need to provide their ID digitally to prove their age, which it said raised \u201cthe spectre of regulating the very tools that protect New Zealanders\u2019 privacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAct is deeply concerned that the committee declined to seek advice from the Department of Internal Affairs on age restrictions for social media platforms, despite the inquiry being centred on that very issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAct is disappointed and embarrassed that the committee had a lack of understanding of the role of select committees and their relationship with the executive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nudify apps<\/p>\n

The committee recommends banning \u201cnudify\u201d apps, which are web or device-based services that automate or make it simple to create fake sexual imagery depicting real people. It also recommends regulating deepfake technology, an issue on which Act MP Laura McClure<\/a> has campaigned rigorously over the past year. <\/p>\n

In the report, Act says it \u201cunequivocally opposes\u201d the creation of such \u201cabhorrent\u201d imagery, but that it does not back the report\u2019s calls for a ban on \u201cnudify\u201d apps because the term has not been clearly defined. The party backs criminalising this behaviour rather than banning the technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttempting to prohibit software categories without precise definitions risks unintended consequences and legal uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Green Party also disagreed with restricting social media for young people, saying it would not address the key concerns. It said it was concerned about New Zealanders having to provide personal identification to prove their age to social media platforms \u201cthat already cannot be trusted to protect user information\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also concerned that age restrictions could drive youth from regulated platforms to other fringe, unregulated, and harmful platforms, undermining the purpose of age restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Labour\u2019s technology and innovation spokesman Reuben Davidson said the report would help \u201ceducate and empower parents, caregivers and young people about dangers online\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand needs an independent regulator to make sure online platforms are safe, and to ensure social media companies can be held responsible for the harm they cause,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also need clear rules to control deepfake technology and a ban on \u2018nudify\u2019 apps, which pose real risks to young people\u2019s privacy and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davidson also has a member\u2019s bill in this space that would place legal duties on online service providers to ensure their platforms are safer.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s recommendations are to: <\/p>\n

Address legislative gaps and overlapsStrengthen liability for online harm Establish an independent national regulator for online safetyIntroduce age restrictions for social media platformsBan \u201cnudify\u201d apps and prohibit the creation and distribution of non-consensual deepfake sexual imageryExplore options to regulate deepfake technologyRegulate algorithmic recommendation systemsMandate algorithm transparencyRestrict online advertising of alcohol, tobacco and gamblingEducate and empower parents, caregivers and young peoplePromote New Zealand-based researchConsider further matters, including virtual private networks (VPNs) as a means to evade restrictions.<\/p>\n

The committee members are chairwoman Katie Nimon and deputy chairman Carl Bates (both National MPs), Labour\u2019s Shanan Halbert, Willow-Jean Prime and Phil Twyford, National\u2019s Grant McCallum and Dr Vanessa Weenink, Act\u2019s Dr Parmjeet Parmar and the Greens\u2019 Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan.<\/p>\n

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the degree of social, psychological and physiological harms that are occurring … overall,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1060,1061,170635,45212,2082,38640,42,12254,170633,37601,296,1073,6368,43,20560,384,170634,42775,1072,40,38,41,39,8238,109398,5977,1299,102,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-314261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-ban","9":"tag-children","10":"tag-disagreed","11":"tag-disappointed","12":"tag-for","13":"tag-harms","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-include","16":"tag-initiated","17":"tag-inquiry","18":"tag-into","19":"tag-media","20":"tag-mp","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-outcome","23":"tag-people","24":"tag-predetermined","25":"tag-recommendations","26":"tag-social","27":"tag-top-news","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topnews","30":"tag-topstories","31":"tag-under","32":"tag-under16s","33":"tag-which","34":"tag-who","35":"tag-with","36":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}