Labour has confirmed it will support National’s under-16 social media ban through its first reading, giving National the numbers it needs to go to Select Committee after both coalition partners, NZ First and ACT, refused to back the Bill.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said his caucus backed the Bill on Tuesday and urged the Government to hold the vote before the election. “We want to help parents keep kids safe from online harm. We take this very seriously and need to make sure legislation is fit for purpose and the select committee process will provide an opportunity for the Bill to be improved,” he said.
However, Leader of the House Louise Upston said there would not be enough time, with just three sitting weeks remaining. Luxon confirmed: “We’ll pick this up on the other side of the election.”
The Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill requires social media platforms to stop under-16s from holding accounts, and simply entering a date of birth will not be sufficient. Age checks may involve formal ID, digital identity services, facial age estimation or information gathered from a user’s account, device or behaviour.
Critics highlight that the Bill does not address how platforms determine a user is under 16 without first establishing the age of everyone. Retired District Court Judge and technology law expert David Harvey said that is the central problem. Despite being sold as a measure targeting children, he warned the mechanism would affect every social media user.
Harvey was also concerned that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) would regulate the scheme. DIA already oversees passports and citizenship records, the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework, censorship compliance and an internet filtering system. As Harvey put it, “infrastructure outlasts intentions”.
And does it even work? Australia’s own evaluation found 81.5% of under-16s were still using at least one restricted platform three months after its ban came into force.
Education Minister Erica Stanford claimed similar measures were “working well overseas,” but the evidence paints a different picture. In the US, age verification laws have faced First Amendment challenges, with a federal court recently blocking Nebraska’s social media age-verification requirement. In France the Constitutional Council found its ban for under-15s infringed on freedom of expression and failed to provide adequate safeguards.
Read more at 1 News, NZ Herald, RNZ, BBC, Bloomberg, Judge David Harvey on Substack and The Redbaiter on X, Holyhekatuiteka on X. Also listen or watch on RCR: RCR has warned for four years that age verification creates the infrastructure for universal digital ID and erodes anonymous internet use. Explore our extensive content on our Digital ID topic page and keep an eye out for an update to our Say No To Digital ID campaign page.
This story has been republished with permission from RCR Bites. For news like this direct and free to your Inbox every day, go to biteme.news to sign up for RCR Bites.
All get down on your knees in simpering submission to your globalist-establishment masters the greasy reptilian corporate-punk luxon and the filthy scumbag punk shitkins, and all scurry into your new governmental-enforced clinics to get your compulsory digital ID plates surgically implanted up into your quivering cowardly rectums. Hurry! Scamper! Do as they tell you! Now! Baaaa-aaaaa…..
Scum
Dear 16’s & Under;
Wasn’t there a Parliamentary Petition or a Government-introduced Referendum to allow 16 Year Olds the Right to Vote recently?
Or,..was this just a placating gesture on the part of those politicians who were hoping for more votes that would support a socialist agenda?
Having some degree of socialism in government isn’t a bad thing, such as health care, student assistance, disability benefit(s), and unemployment compensation, and public ownership of utility companies with price caps baked-in…as these are safety nets that should be built into every society
We know that the politicians are unaware of how to cleverly use technology, especially on the ways of getting around so-called ‘age restrictions’, or ‘sign-in to verify your age’ bullshit, etc.
One politician didn’t even know what a VPN was! (the #2 in the Nazional Party…) or how to use it. Jack Tame had to crash course her during a Q&A Program segment!
But kiddies- i digress for the moment, and remind you all that you could always send an e-mail to the Wasp Nest to remind the politicians that one day soon you’ll be 16 or 18…and you will be able to vote these parasites out of office who interfered with your freedom of speech platforms, and your ability to contact your parents or friends in the event of an emergency, or receive Civil Defence Emergency notifications
BUT-
Please use these platforms wisely and judiciously, and never do another harm using these social platforms, as these can lead to lawsuits that will bankrupt either you or your parents for a very long time!
And THAT may also bar you from Uni and jobs in the future.
Remember- online social media does NOT go away simply because you deleted something that you don’t want traced back to you…
Happy Keyboarding!
Confirms that Nat and Labour are two cheeks of the same corrupt globalist ass. I wonder how much they get from Palantir and the likes.
So Labour is suddenly interested in the welfare and well being in what is best for our young people?
That is a far cry and complete turnaround from their criminal negligent actions taken during covid
A distraction and cover story to the reality that lead to vaccine damage and death
That Labour hopes is a way back to save its miserable existence
This should not be a surprise to anyone, labour, national, the greens and all the others have been slowly pushing the globalist agenda all my life. Not once has a politician in this country represented me and I’m now 58 years old, if they had the globalist agenda would have no power in this country. The opportunities party seem to also be pushing it. How do we know because it’s the biggest threat to humanity we know of and they as far as I can tell never said they are against it or even admitted it exists..
Now if you are awake New Zealand you can see National and Labour are two sides of the same globalist coin. Attacking human rights, in this case freedom of expression and privacy are their stock and trade. Don’t vote for either this election.