New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has unveiled a proposed law banning children younger than 16 from using social media platforms, citing what he said Monday (August 24, 2026) was “harm being done to a generation” of young people.
Luxon is seeking to make his government the latest worldwide to enact age restrictions for social media platforms after dozens of countries have either introduced or are mulling such measures. Luxon’s coalition government will vote against it. Passage would require support from Opposition lawmakers, who have yet to decide how they would vote. “There also wasn’t enough time for lawmakers to hold a vote on the proposal before Parliament dissolved on Oct. Bills are required to pass three rounds of voting, usually over a period of months, before they become law. If reelected, Mr. Mr. However, it’s been vehemently opposed by the other two parties that make up the government along with Luxon’s center-right group National — libertarian ACT and populist NZ First.
1 ahead of November’s election,” Mr. He said 2025 research showed a third of New Zealand teenagers spent at least five hours a day on social media. No penalties are proposed for parents or children, but tech firms could be fined up to 10% of their global revenue for failing to meet their obligations. Luxon’s government has mulled such a law since Australia’s world-first social media ban for under 16-year-olds took effect in December 2025. Both minor parties repeated on Monday (August 24) their plans to vote against the law.
Because two of the three parties in Mr, however, the bill hasn’t yet attracted enough support to pass into law.
Luxon said. “Social media is exposing them to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with and it’s affecting their family life, mental health, sleep, and education,” Mr. Platforms regularly used by children would be required to assess and report on the risks their networks posed, Luxon said. Lawmakers from the largest Opposition party, center-left Labour, haven’t decided if they’d vote for it, leader Chris Hipkins said. Earlier reporting noted: “We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said. Earlier reporting noted: “One in three children aged between 13 and 17 are now spending at least five hours on social media a day,” he said.
Earlier reporting noted: New Zealand’s government introduced legislation on Monday to ban under 16s from using social media, joining a number of countries seeking to keep youngsters off sites such as Instagram and TikTok.
