New Zealand\u2019s conservative government has introduced a Bill mirroring Australia\u2019s social media ban for teens, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declaring they \u201ccannot accept the harm being done\u201d to a generation of children. <\/p>\n
Mr Luxon\u2019s National Party on Monday introduced the Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill requiring the likes of Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat \u201cto take reasonable steps to check users are over the age of 16\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne in three children aged between 13 and 17 are now spending at least five hours on social media a day,\u201d Mr Luxon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial media is exposing them to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with and it\u2019s affecting their family life, mental health, sleep, and education.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, parents have a role to play in monitoring what social media platform their children are on, but so do social media companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have protections to keep children safe in the real world and we need them in the virtual world too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the legislation, social media companies could be slapped with fines up to 10 per cent of their global revenue \u2013 substantially steeper than the maximum $49.5m penalty under Australia\u2019s ban.<\/p>\n
But whether proposal goes anywhere remains uncertain, with Mr Luxon\u2019s coalition partners firmly against.<\/p>\n
NZ First leader and political heavyweight Winston Peters vowed his party would \u201cnever support this\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government is not moving to ban under-16s from social media. The National Party is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have communicated our concerns to National over the past year. Our stance has not changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been concerned with the proposed legislation and the direction and slippery slope that legislation like this will inevitably take our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Peters went on to brand Australia\u2019s ban a \u201ccolossal failure\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact is, no matter how laudable the intent is of introducing laws to address this serious issue, there is no method that would fulfil that intent without banning VPNs or the use of digital ID to enforce the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been proven with the colossal failure of Australia bringing in similar measures that National want to bring in now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow coalition partner, ACT leader David Seymour, also said his party would \u201cagree to disagree\u201d and vote against the Bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cProtecting children online is a serious problem,\u201d Mr Seymour said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the National Party have hitched their wagon to a terrible solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ban they propose won\u2019t work, and the side effects will leave us worse off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither the centre-left Labour opposition nor the leftist Green Party are fully sold either.<\/p>\n
Though, Labour has put forward changes, suggesting it is open to talks.<\/p>\n
Mr Luxon acknowledged the legislation would not pass before parliament rose for the November election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s conservative government has introduced a Bill mirroring Australia\u2019s social media ban for teens, with Prime Minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[47641,121424,121451,121449,121448,121430,121447,33780,43096,121416,70004,37565,76669,46946,121425,121443,121410,121438,121450,22,23,21,104064,13628,36917,121434,4543,121454,33435,2307,121409,11871,121418,30993,121452,91383,5518,121431,975,21552,15150,3162,121442,37045,121439,121417,121441,2553,2294,121436,2054,121440,27195,121421,121415,45017,121426,5264,3218,121411,54361,121437,77468,6938,44796,46639,968,121423,56098,106,8068,35420,24813,121429,38,121432,35169,37989,57704,121419,121444,121453,39545,23380,39572,78059,34680,121428,59454,37026,121414,64781,40850,51809,121412,121427,38655,39522,121420,38715,121413,121435,121433,121446,38707,121445,29123,60712,121422],"class_list":["post-79245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-ban","tag-s-ban-but","tag-s-coalition-partners","tag-s-conservative-government","tag-s-national-party","tag-s-social-media-ban","tag-s-social-media-move","tag-33780","tag-43096","tag-a-colossal-failure","tag-a-bill","tag-a-day","tag-a-generation","tag-a-role","tag-a-serious-problem","tag-a-terrible-solution","tag-act-leader-david-seymour","tag-addictive-technology","tag-at-least-five-hours","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-austrlia","tag-between-13-and-17","tag-bill","tag-cent","tag-child-safety-risk-assessment","tag-children","tag-coalition-partners","tag-digital-id","tag-education","tag-fellow-coalition-partner","tag-fines","tag-first-leader","tag-harmful","tag-harmful-content","tag-his-party","tag-instagram","tag-its-own-social-media-ban","tag-labour","tag-laws","tag-legislation","tag-mental-health","tag-minimum-age","tag-monday","tag-mr-luxon","tag-mr-peters","tag-mr-seymour","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-moves","tag-newswire-politics","tag-no-method","tag-nz","tag-nz-moves","tag-our-concerns","tag-our-country","tag-our-stance","tag-parents","tag-parliament","tag-political-heavyweight-winston-peters","tag-pressures","tag-prime-minister-christopher-luxon","tag-proposal","tag-protecting-children","tag-protections","tag-reasonable-steps","tag-safety","tag-similar-measures","tag-sleep","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-ban","tag-social-media-companies","tag-social-media-platform","tag-talks-mr-luxon","tag-teens","tag-that-intent","tag-the-age","tag-the-ban","tag-the-bill","tag-the-centre-left-labour-opposition","tag-the-colossal-failure","tag-the-direction-and-slippery-slope","tag-the-fact","tag-the-government","tag-the-harm","tag-the-intent","tag-the-law","tag-the-leftist-green-party","tag-the-legislation","tag-the-likes","tag-the-maximum-49-5m-penalty","tag-the-national-party","tag-the-november-election","tag-the-past-year","tag-the-proposed-legislation","tag-the-real-world","tag-the-side-effects","tag-the-use","tag-the-virtual-world","tag-their-children","tag-their-family-life","tag-their-global-revenue","tag-their-wagon","tag-this-serious-issue","tag-three-children","tag-tiktok-and-snapchat","tag-under-16s","tag-users","tag-vpns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}