All eyes on Australia: ACT urges caution on social media ban

“As Australia implements its social media ban for under-16s today, New Zealand lawmakers should watch closely before rushing to do the same," says ACT MP Dr Parmjeet Parmar.

"A ban like Australia's is unprecedented, which means we're yet to see a success story. Australia’s move has also laid bare how difficult the practicalities are. How burdensome will new age-verification measures be for older social media users? How reliable will photo-based age-verification be? How will platforms interpret requirements to take 'reasonable steps'? Why does the ban apply to Snapchat, but not other messaging apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger? How will Australia stop young people moving to unregulated, harder-to-monitor online spaces?

“ACT shares the concern that social media is causing harm to young people. Parents, educators, and mental health professionals have been raising these issues for years. But any Government response should be workable, respect parental responsibility, and avoid unintended consequences.

“That is exactly why ACT initiated a Select Committee inquiry earlier this year. Phase One is underway, and Phase Two will continue in the new year. This inquiry gives MPs the opportunity to hear from parents, teachers, principals, technological experts, mental-health professionals, and the platforms themselves before jumping to conclusions.

“Australia is doing us a favour by testing in real time whether these systems can work in practice. New Zealand should learn from that experience before making decisions of our own.

“The last thing we want is a knee-jerk response that leaves young people less safe, pushes them to unregulated platforms, or forces everyone to hand over more personal information to tech companies.”