Bill banning social media for under-16s drawn from ballot, but future uncertain
Thursday, 23 October 2025
The future of a bill banning under-16s from social media is unclear, despite widespread support for its goals.
National MP Catherine Wedd’s members’ bill was pulled from the ballot on Thursday, meaning it will be debated in the House and potentially become law ‒ even without the full backing of Government.
But the bill will need the support of more than just the National Party if it is to progress and other parties are wary.
ACT leader David Seymour said it was “unlikely” his party would support the bill while there was still an inquiry into social media harm under way at select committee ‒ an inquiry ACT initiated.
“It's tempting, because we know how much people care about this, it would be easy to just stand here and say, ‘Hey, we're supporting a solution’ ‒ but we're not convinced the solution will work,” Seymour said.
The experience of similar bans in the UK and Australia suggested such laws were far from simple, he said.
“I don't think the law is keeping up with technology and it would be a mistake to be implementing something just as the Australians and British are having serious trouble making it work.”
ACT would not be needed if parties from the Opposition supported the bill, although governing parties sometimes find it awkward to pass legislation with their opponents against the wishes of their allies.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said his party was supportive of greater intervention in the area, but it was complex enough that the Government should pick up the bill and design it ‒ not leave it to an individual MP.
“We've always been a bit concerned about the practicality of the bill, and some of the measures in it. How you define social media? We’re not wanting to exclude kids from, you know, communication channels that are actually really useful for young people.”
His caucus would discuss the issue before it came up at first reading.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said it was a complex area and she had been working with Wedd on the bill.
She was undertaking work to potentially convert it into a government bill, but would not say whether this might happen before the first reading of the bill - likely to be in November.
Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono said the Green Party caucus was yet to discuss the bill, but they were concerned about whether it was workable and whether the social media giants would be held accountable.