{"id":131854,"date":"2026-08-25T10:26:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T05:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=131854"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T05:26:51","slug":"new-zealand-moves-to-ban-social-media-for-under-16s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131854\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand moves to ban social media for under-16s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WELLINGTON(National Times)- New Zealand\u2019s government introduced legislation on Monday to ban under 16s from using social media, joining a number of countries seeking to keep youngsters off sites such as Instagram and TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Australia implemented world-first legislation banning children from social media in December, with the UK, France and others following suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under New Zealand\u2019s proposed law, firms like Meta could be fined up to 10 percent of their global revenue if they fail to comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children,\u201d Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne in three children aged between 13 and 17 is now spending at least five hours on social media a day,\u201d he said. \u201cSocial media is exposing them to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with, and it\u2019s affecting their family life, mental health, sleep and education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luxon specifically called out platforms Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook, saying they would be required to take \u201creasonable steps to check users are over the age of 16\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WELLINGTON(National Times)- New Zealand\u2019s government introduced legislation on Monday to ban under 16s from using social media, joining a number of countries seeking to keep youngsters off sites such as Instagram and TikTok. Australia implemented world-first legislation banning children from social media in December, with the UK, France and others following suit. Under New Zealand\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Zealand moves to ban social media for under-16s - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131854\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Zealand moves to ban social media for under-16s - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WELLINGTON(National Times)- New Zealand\u2019s government introduced legislation on Monday to ban under 16s from using social media, joining a number of countries seeking to keep youngsters off sites such as Instagram and TikTok. Australia implemented world-first legislation banning children from social media in December, with the UK, France and others following suit. 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