Recently, National MP, Catherine Wedd, has launched a members bill, that has been supported by the wider party, to ban under-16-year-olds from social media. Since, Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, has announced that Education Minister, Erica Stanford, will be “exploring options” that would be brought to Cabinet.
As such, Stanford’s education portfolio will be amended to ensure she can commission advice and direct officials to mitigate the harms of social media on under-16-year-olds.
Luxon says that he has received an "overwhelmingly positive response from mums and dads," regarding these moves. At the end of last year, in light of Australia passing a similar bill, a 1News Verian poll showed 68% were in support of New Zealand passing a similar bill, 22% were opposed, and 10% were undecided.
These moves come alongside the launch of B416, a group pushing to ban social media access to under-16-year-olds.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the co-chair of B416, Anna Curzon, about why she supports this outright ban.
Despite a lot of support, what has been proposed has also received a lot of criticism.
Many are concerned about how effective this bill, if passed into law, would be.
As mentioned previously, Australia passed a similar bill last year, which is set to go into effect at the end of this year. However, there are still hurdles in the way before the implementation of this policy in December, such as what tech will be used to ensure under-16-year-olds aren’t on social media, and whether social media platforms themselves will comply.
Here in New Zealand, what is currently being proposed has seen relatively mixed opinions. NZ First supports the move, however, ACT does not. The ACT Party previously called the member's bill hastily drafted, simplistic, and unworkable, and has instead called for a “public inquiry” before the select committee.
Joel also spoke to Dr Alex Beattie, a lecturer in Media and Communications at the Victoria University of Wellington about what has been proposed, and his concerns regarding the bill.
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