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Social media ban for under-16s: MPs back new online regulator, raise VPN concerns

Thursday, 5 March 2026

ACT was concerned by the majority report’s comment on VPNs, said MP Parmjeet Parmar.
ACT was concerned by the majority report’s comment on VPNs, said MP Parmjeet Parmar.

A Parliamentary select committee has finalised and beefed up its recommendations for tough new restrictions on social media, drawing protests from the ACT Party.

The Education and Workforce select committee confirmed its call to ban social media firms from opening accounts for people under 16 and backed the establishment of a new national online safety regulator and controls on social media algorithms.

It also went further than in a draft report it released in December by suggesting that the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) by internet users “warrants further exploration by the Government”.

VPNs, which disguise the origin of internet traffic, are one way that people can bypass controls on internet use.

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“We acknowledge there is well-founded concern that age restrictions on social media could be evaded by young people using VPNs,” the committee’s majority said in its report.

“We recommend that this is an area for further exploration by the regulator.”

Labour technology and innovation spokesperson Reuben Davidson said he was “pleased that we’ve been able to work constructively with National throughout the inquiry, and now we need to work together on reforms.

“Keeping young people safe online is too important for political point-scoring,” he said.

Senior Labour MP Kieran McAnulty said he hadn’t heard the suggestion of a ban on VPNs before “but my initial response would be that seems like a pretty extreme response”.

ACT Party MP Parmjeet Parmar — who sits on the Education and Workforce committee and initiated the review but opposed the recommendations of the majority — said it had “moved toward sweeping recommendations without adequate analysis”.

“Protecting young people online is a goal we all support. The question is how to do it effectively, proportionately, and without creating a surveillance-by-default internet for everyone else,” she said.

An under-16s ban on social media accounts “meant New Zealanders routinely proving their age to access everyday online services. Not just young people, but adults as well,” she said.

ACT was concerned by the majority report’s comment on VPNs, she said.

“VPNs are legitimate privacy and cybersecurity tools,” she said. “The suggestion that a regulator should have authority over their use goes well beyond the scope of the inquiry.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said preventing harm to children using social media, “and indeed, young people using social media” was something the party was galvanised by.

“We recognise that a simple ban is probably not sufficient. There need to be complementary measures with that,” she said.

The committee’s inquiry is now over, leaving future developments in the hands of the Government.

Education Minister Erica Stanford has been working on policy in the area and has indicated the select committee inquiry’s findings may play into that. The ACT Party’s wariness would not necessarily stop age restrictions on social media being introduced, as National might be able to rely on support from Labour to get that over the line.

However, time is running short to legislate for a ban ahead of the November election.

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