WELLINGTON, August 24. /Dunyo IA/. New Zealand’s government is set to introduce a bill today banning children under 16 from using social media, following Australia’s example, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing an official government release.

Under the “Online Safety Bill,” platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook would be required to verify users’ ages using tools such as facial age estimation and digital identification.

Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue. Platforms would also be required to assess the risks they pose to minors and report on measures taken to reduce them.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the harm to children had become too serious to ignore.

“We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,” he said, citing the effects of social media use on mental health, sleep and education.

According to government data, one in three children aged 13 to 17 spends at least five hours a day on social media.

Education Minister Erica Stanford stressed that the legal responsibility would fall on platforms rather than families. “No penalties are proposed for children, their parents or caregivers,” she said.

The bill’s future remains uncertain, however. Despite more than a year of consideration of a potential ban, coalition partners “New Zealand First” and “ACT” have opposed the initiative and questioned the effectiveness of such restrictions.

A similar ban in Australia came into effect last year, restricting access to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms for users under 16 as part of efforts to protect children from bullying and “predatory algorithms.”

However, a study by Australian researchers published in June in a peer-reviewed journal found little evidence that the ban had reduced social media use among teenagers.

The same ban followed in other countries of the world. France, for example, became the first European country to ban social media for children under the age of 15.

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