Landmark social media settlement shows better way forward

“ACT welcomes the changes Meta has agreed to make to its social media platforms in the United States. We are calling on Meta and all similar companies to treat New Zealand children the same as they will be required to treat American children,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Protecting children online is a serious problem, that’s why ACT pushed for Parliament to investigate the issue. We are now seeing a genuine, realistic solution take shape.

“As part of a settlement with US states, Meta has agreed to make significant changes to its platforms. These include a default two-hour daily limit for teenagers, locking most teen accounts between midnight and 6am, switching off push notifications overnight and during school hours, and giving parents greater power to supervise and restrict their children’s accounts. Teenagers would also need parental approval to loosen the main restrictions.

“The best thing the New Zealand Government could do for young New Zealanders is tell Meta we want to have the same settings here, and challenge other major social media companies to match them. That would be a more effective and realistic solution than implementing a ban which won’t work and is fraught with unintended consequences.

“The problem with these bans is that teenagers are smarter and more determined at using the internet than adults. Anything strict enough to stop motivated teenagers will affect adult freedom, but teenagers will drive a bus through anything loose enough to not affect adults.

“Instead of pretending teenagers can simply be kept off social media because politicians say so, it changes the features that encourage excessive use, gives parents greater control, and puts responsibility on the companies designing the platforms.

“Before Parliament creates another bureaucracy with unintended consequences, imposes widespread online identification, starts restricting legitimate privacy tools, or threatens companies with fines they’ll never pay, we should look to implement the solution right in front of us.”