New Zealand Bill Puts Age Assurance Duty on Social Media Platforms

New Zealand has introduced legislation that would bar under-16s from social media by requiring platforms to check the ages of their users, and it rules out letting a self-declared date of birth stand on its own.

The Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill was presented to Parliament by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford. It requires platforms it classes as high risk, with Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook named in the government’s announcement, to take reasonable steps to confirm that users are over 16. Permitted methods run from checking information already held on an account through to facial age estimation, digital ID services and formal identity documents.

A wide range of services falls outside the rule. Discord, WhatsApp, Roblox, Spotify, LinkedIn and general-purpose AI assistants such as ChatGPT are named as excluded, and whole categories fall outside the rule: services used mainly for messaging, email, voice or video calling, online multiplayer games, music and podcast services, professional networking, and education and health services. AI companions designed to simulate an emotional connection with a user are captured.

Age checking is not the only duty. Platforms used by children must also regularly assess the risks they present and report on how those risks are being identified and reduced. Enforcement falls to a new online safety regulator to be established inside the Department of Internal Affairs, which will monitor compliance, investigate platforms and bring enforcement action. Companies that fail to meet their obligations face penalties of up to 10 percent of global revenue.

“The Bill places legal obligations on platforms. No penalties are proposed for children, their parents or caregivers,” Stanford said. Luxon said one in three children aged between 13 and 17 now spend at least five hours a day on social media.

Neither coalition partner supports the bill. NZ First leader Winston Peters said his party would “never support this” and argued that no method fulfils the intent without banning virtual private networks or using digital ID to enforce the law. ACT leader David Seymour said his party would exercise its agree-to-disagree provision and vote against it. Luxon confirmed the bill will not reach a first reading before Parliament rises for the election, and Labour has not committed its support.

Britain set out plans for its own under-16 ban with age assurance at the centre, and Canada’s Bill C-34 would set the same minimum age with age assurance obligations attached. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has been enforcing its regime through platform-level undertakings, recently securing a commitment from Roblox that includes a third-party audit of its age assurance.

Sources: New Zealand Government, 1News

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team