A parliamentary select committee has recommended age restrictions on social media, but the MP who prompted the inquiry is calling the result “predetermined,” writes Joel MacManus in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.
To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
A committee’s endorsement
The parliamentary select committee investigating the harms of social media returned its report on Thursday, and it was a doozy. The committee recommended that the government introduce age restrictions and progress work already underway to consider banning children under the age of 16 from using social media.
Along with an age restriction, the committee called for an independent national regulator for online safety, strict rules on “nudify” apps, and exploration of new powers to regulate social media algorithms.
“We are deeply concerned about the degree of social, psychological, and physiological harms that are occurring,” the cross-party committee said. “We urge the Government to take urgent action to keep children and young people safe from online harm.”
An unexpected dissent
In an unusual twist, Act MP Parmjeet Parmar, whose party pushed for the inquiry, was highly critical of the final report. The Act Party offered a “differing opinion” on the recommendations, arguing they would be ineffective and “risk undermining privacy and free expression”.
Her primary gripe is that the committee didn’t actually seek advice from the Department of Internal Affairs on how an age ban would work. As reported by RNZ’s Lillian Hanly, Parmar felt the committee members worked towards “predetermined solutions” rather than considering all possibilities.
However, as reported by the NZ Herald’s Julia Gabel, the Greens have joined Act in their skepticism of the ban. The party said it was concerned about intrusions into online privacy, and the fact that young people may be pushed to darker corners of the internet.
“We are also concerned that age restrictions could drive youth from regulated platforms to other fringe, unregulated, and harmful platforms, undermining the purpose of age restrictions.”
Fast followers
The committee said New Zealand should adopt the regulations of the UK, European Union and Australia, to become a “fast follower” in the space of digital regulation.
National MP Carl Bates said the report made clear that “the harm young New Zealanders are facing from online platforms is significant. It is fast-moving and occurring on a global scale”. He said a “fast follower” approach would allow New Zealand to have greater impact without reinventing the wheel. Labour is also on board, with technology spokesperson Reuben Davidson noting that the report offered a chance to “educate and empower parents, caregivers and young people about dangers online”.
The ‘nudify’ problem
Beyond the age ban, the committee honed in on “nudify apps” – AI tools that can create sexualised images based on non-sexual social media posts. Act says it “unequivocally opposes” the creation of such “abhorrent” imagery, but has concerns about how banning nudify apps would work. “Attempting to prohibit software categories without precise definitions risks unintended consequences and legal uncertainty,” the party said. Parmar pointed out that the definition could be broad enough to include many AI chatbots, such as Grok, created by X/Twitter.
Education Minister Erica Stanford will now consider the recommendations. Given National’s previous “keenness” to progress a social ban for under-16s before the end of the term, the political momentum is high, despite Act’s attempts to put the brakes on.
The Bulletinabout 11 hours ago
Social media ban for under-16s moves one step closer
A parliamentary select committee has recommended age restrictions on social media, but the MP who prompted the inquiry is calling the result “predetermined,” writes Joel MacManus in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.
To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
A committee’s endorsement
The parliamentary select committee investigating the harms of social media returned its report on Thursday, and it was a doozy. The committee recommended that the government introduce age restrictions and progress work already underway to consider banning children under the age of 16 from using social media.
Along with an age restriction, the committee called for an independent national regulator for online safety, strict rules on “nudify” apps, and exploration of new powers to regulate social media algorithms.
“We are deeply concerned about the degree of social, psychological, and physiological harms that are occurring,” the cross-party committee said. “We urge the Government to take urgent action to keep children and young people safe from online harm.”
An unexpected dissent
In an unusual twist, Act MP Parmjeet Parmar, whose party pushed for the inquiry, was highly critical of the final report. The Act Party offered a “differing opinion” on the recommendations, arguing they would be ineffective and “risk undermining privacy and free expression”.
Her primary gripe is that the committee didn’t actually seek advice from the Department of Internal Affairs on how an age ban would work. As reported by RNZ’s Lillian Hanly, Parmar felt the committee members worked towards “predetermined solutions” rather than considering all possibilities.
However, as reported by the NZ Herald’s Julia Gabel, the Greens have joined Act in their skepticism of the ban. The party said it was concerned about intrusions into online privacy, and the fact that young people may be pushed to darker corners of the internet.
“We are also concerned that age restrictions could drive youth from regulated platforms to other fringe, unregulated, and harmful platforms, undermining the purpose of age restrictions.”
Fast followers
The committee said New Zealand should adopt the regulations of the UK, European Union and Australia, to become a “fast follower” in the space of digital regulation.
National MP Carl Bates said the report made clear that “the harm young New Zealanders are facing from online platforms is significant. It is fast-moving and occurring on a global scale”. He said a “fast follower” approach would allow New Zealand to have greater impact without reinventing the wheel.
Labour is also on board, with technology spokesperson Reuben Davidson noting that the report offered a chance to “educate and empower parents, caregivers and young people about dangers online”.
The ‘nudify’ problem
Beyond the age ban, the committee honed in on “nudify apps” – AI tools that can create sexualised images based on non-sexual social media posts.
Act says it “unequivocally opposes” the creation of such “abhorrent” imagery, but has concerns about how banning nudify apps would work. “Attempting to prohibit software categories without precise definitions risks unintended consequences and legal uncertainty,” the party said. Parmar pointed out that the definition could be broad enough to include many AI chatbots, such as Grok, created by X/Twitter.
Education Minister Erica Stanford will now consider the recommendations. Given National’s previous “keenness” to progress a social ban for under-16s before the end of the term, the political momentum is high, despite Act’s attempts to put the brakes on.
93% of you trust information from The Spinoff. That makes us enormously proud. It also means we keep working hard to maintain it. The trust we've earned is why The Spinoff does not and will not publish work that has used generative AI. The words you read on The Spinoff are written by humans, edited by humans and, as Spinoff members show us every day, supported by humans.
Various estimates suggest up to half of all internet traffic is now AI bots. AI slop is everywhere. Trust isn't built through algorithms or automated at scale, it's earned. That's what we're protecting when we make decisions about AI, but we need your help. AI and big tech companies represent an existential threat. Not just to us, and to journalism, but to creativity and human understanding. Please help keep The Spinoff independent, local and, most of all, incredibly human by becoming a Spinoff member today.
Our future depends on funding from readers