National looking to ban social media for under-16s on two tracks at once
Monday, 10 November 2025
The Government is taking a “two-track approach” to banning social media for under-16s, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promising Government legislation before the next election as well as a member’s bill from National MP Catherine Wedd.
Luxon said earlier today he was “deeply supportive” of banning social media for under-16s, but coalition partner ACT expressed some wariness about the move.
Any ACT reticence hasn’t stopped Wedd putting forward a simple members’ bill to ban all under-16s from social media, which was drawn from the ballot in recent weeks and will soon be voted on in Parliament.
Luxon said on Monday that this bill wouldn’t preclude a separate track of work from Education Minister Erica Stanford to get together a Government bill ahead of the general election - a move that would typically require the support of ACT and NZ First.
An ACT Party spokesperson said the party had not been notified of any proposal put forward.
Luxon defended the decision to progress two bills at the same time, saying it was a “frontier” policy that required detailed consideration.
“We're very attracted to the idea of social media ban for under 16s - the devil is in the detail, and that's why the policy work is important.“
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has expressed some support for the policy but said a Government bill would likely be needed given the complexity of the issue.
“I'd like to see the Government come forward with a Government proposal on it, because I think a member's bill is always fraught with difficulty - just in the sense of it's a very complex issue, and trying to do that as a backbencher is going to be quite hard. I'd rather see a government backed proposal that we could get behind,” Hipkins said.
The Prime Minister hoped the bill would have broad support in Parliament.
“I think many parties would say that it’s a New Zealand issue, it's not a party political issue.”
ACT leader David Seymour said last month it was unlikely the party would support the members’ bill while an inquiry was under way.
“Ever since that bill was drafted, we've seen a lot of problems with it. I don't believe that a simple ban will fix the problem,” Seymour said.
He didn’t believe the law was keeping up with technology, and said “it would be a mistake to be implementing something just as the Australians and British are having serious trouble making it work”.
The Government is watching the Australian government closely on its introduction of a similar ban in December.