New Zealand to pursue social media ban for children under 16

New Zealand's government has introduced legislation to ban social media use for children under 16. The proposed law, known as the Online Safety Bill, would require high-risk social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook to take "reasonable steps" to ensure users are over 16. This could involve using tools like facial age estimation, digital ID services, formal IDs, and existing account information for verification.

According to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, social media is exposing children to "harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with", affecting their family life, mental health, sleep, and education. The bill also proposes fines of up to 10% of a company's global revenue for non-compliance, as reported by The Island Sri Lanka and Malay Mail.

The move follows similar bans or restrictions in countries like Australia, the UK, France, and Greece. Luxon emphasized the need for protections in the virtual world, just as there are in the real world, to keep children safe. The government has not specified which other "high-risk" platforms could be impacted, but the bill aims to put greater responsibilities on tech companies to protect children online.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Record, The Island Sri Lanka, Mashable, Malay Mail, Punch — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.