New Zealand to consider banning children under 16 from social media

Prime minister Christopher Luxon's party to introduce bill seeking the ban, citing harm to a generation of children

New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon has said his party will introduce a bill in parliament that seeks to ban children under 16 from using social media, proposing fines of up to 10% of a platform's global revenue for non-compliance.

The bill would require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to verify users' ages, including by utilising existing account information, facial technology and digital identity documents.