New Zealand moves to ban social media for under-16s, platforms face hefty fines

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Monday 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 per cent 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.