The Prime Minister of New Zealand claims: we will ban social networks under the age of 16

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon suggested on Tuesday to ban access to social networks, several months after similar restrictions, which were also introduced to Australia among the strictest in the world. The proposal of the law presented by the New Zealand Prime Minister, which must also be presented to his partners in the ruling coalition, would oblige platforms to take measures that would prevent the younger than sixteen to approach them. The text of the proposal provides for fines up to approximately one million euros for companies that would not respect this obligation. At this point, it is not yet known what platforms the law would apply.

A similar law passed in November Parliament in Australia, a country leading to regulating social networks to protect children.

Australian law has criticized large companies that have social networks, pointing out that children and young people may be pushed to alternative dangerous platforms.

« It is time for New Zealand to admit that social networks, despite all the good things they bring, are not always a safe place for our young people, » Luxon said in a statement to reporters.

« It’s time to transfer these platforms to the responsibility of protecting vulnerable children from harmful content, » he added.

Luxon did not say when the proposal would be presented to the parliament. « These are the protection of our children. It is about ensuring that social networks companies play their role by securing the safety of our children, » he added.

The text of the law was composed by his political party, the National Party of Novi Zealand (right center), and in order to be accepted, he will also have to support him by two parties of the ruling coalition.

« As a mother of four, I am convinced that family and parents should have better support when it comes to the supervision of their children’s exposure to online contents, » said Deputy Catherine Wedd, who wrote the bill.

The fact that children and young people use social networks have caused concern in recent years, especially in terms of time they spend in front of screens and a lack of moderation on some platforms.

The implementation of the Australian Law prohibiting access to social networks under the age of 16, which should enter into force until December, will be closely monitored in other countries because several of them consider the introduction of similar restrictions, such as New Zealand and Spain.

China from 2021. To minors forbid access to social networks and seeks identification through the document. You can not spend more than 40 minutes a day under the Douyin, a Chinese version of Tictoka, and children and young people are strictly limited and spent with online games.