Final report on harm young New Zealanders encounter online released, related news and research

March

2026

The Education and Workforce Select Committee have released their final report: Inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders encounter online, and the roles that Government, business, and society should play in addressing those harms (2026). The final report follows the Committee’s invitation for public submissions in July 2025 and their interim report, which was released in December 2025. For more background, see Vine’s previous news story: Public submissions open for inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders encounter online.

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Findings from the final report

The final report concludes that:

“… harm to young New Zealanders from online platforms is severe and requires urgent responses from Government, business, and society alike. We consider that online harm needs to be treated as a multifaceted education, public health, and wider governmental issue. We are deeply concerned by the known and potential effects of online harm on youth development and wellbeing. Our overarching conclusion is that the Government should consider ways to improve institutional frameworks, education, and legislation underpinning the regulation of online safety, and take further steps to support parents and caregivers in protecting their young people.”

It makes 12 recommendations:

Address legislative gaps and overlaps
Strengthen liability for online harm
Establish an independent national regulator for online safety
Introduce age restrictions for social media platforms
Ban “nudify” apps and prohibit the creation and distribution of non-consensual deepfake sexual imagery
Explore options to regulate deepfake technology
Regulate algorithmic recommendation systems
Mandate algorithm transparency
Restrict online advertising of alcohol, tobacco, and gambling
Educate and empower parents, caregivers, and young people
Promote New Zealand-based research
Consider further matters

Many recommendations received unanimous support from Committee members. The ACT party expressed a differing view or disagreed with 7 recommendations: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 12. The Green party expressed a differing view relating to recommendation 4 – introducing age restrictions for social media platforms.

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Recommendation 4 – social media age restrictions

As announced in a Beehive press release in May 2025, the Minister of Education is presently leading a Government work programme to explore options to restrict young people under the age of 16 from accessing social media.

The final report notes:

“However, most of us strongly support the proposal to restrict access to social media for under-16-yearolds. We note that many submitters said that establishing an age limit for social media would help to signal expectations about appropriate social media use for parents, carers, and young people. Submitters suggested that New Zealand learn from, and potentially model its approach on, age-based restrictions recently introduced in Australia.”

Common concerns raised by submitters regarding potential age restrictions include:

Privacy risks associated with sharing proof of identity with platforms
Ease of evading restrictions, including through use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Inconsistent requirements across different types of online platform, in part due to complex definitions of social media itself
Undermining benefits of online technologies, including on educational platforms

Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand’s Lisa Woods told RNZ the organisation opposed a social media ban for under 16. She said in a press release:

"Banning social media for young people doesn’t address the root causes of harm and places the burden of safety on young people and parents while allowing platforms to continue operating predatory business models… Any plan that solely puts the burden on parents and young people while leaving the toxic architecture of these platforms untouched, will have failed so many New Zealanders.”

Tāhono Trust member Anjum Rahmen told 95bFM:

“We do not support a ban for under 16s. And the reason that we don’t support that is because it is putting responsibility on individuals, on parents and children, for the harm that’s happening online and we think responsibility should be on the platforms. [...] while it sounds like a good idea, and it sounds like you’re dealing with the problem, the fact is there are a lot of vulnerable populations that are equally suffering from harm... We want a holistic approach.”

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Recommendation 5 – ban “nudify” apps

The report urges the Government to ban “nudify” apps with immediate effect. It acknowledges sexualised images, including deepfakes, of children and young people are already considered objectionable content under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act, but points to the lack of direct regulation of deepfake tools or apps themselves. AI-generated images or the creation of non-consensual deepfake content are not explicitly prohibited under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. The Committee considers that:

“Web- and device-based applications that automate or substantially lower the technical barrier to creating deepfake sexual imagery of real people should be banned… The intention of our recommendation is to target, regulate, and restrict the use of deepfake tools to prevent sexual abuse. We are most concerned to address the creation and distribution of deepfake sexual imagery of children and young people—something that we consider an extreme harm.”

For more on sexual deepfake images, see Vine’s recent news stories: New evidence brief on the escalation of online violence against women in the public sphere and Netsafety Week 2025: Resources on technology-facilitated violence and online safety.

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Related news: InternetNZ releases report

Ipurangi Aotearoa | InternetNZ has released their annual insights into how New Zealanders online use the Internet and how they feel about it: Aotearoa Insights Report 2025. They polled 1,003 New Zealanders aged 18 and over and found:

Nearly half (47%) of New Zealanders who are online spend four or more hours a day on the Internet for personal use, including 63% of 18-29-year-olds.
Four out of five New Zealanders have used AI in the last 12 months, with 1 in 5 using AI daily.
72% of Aotearoa feel the positives of the Internet outweigh the negatives (down from 80% in 2023).
Pacific peoples (80%) and Māori (64%) are extremely or very concerned about the Internet being used to share dangerous or discriminatory messaging.
15% of people overall in Aotearoa say they have experienced online harm or harassment.
New Zealanders with a disability or impairment are the most likely to have experienced online harm or harassment (27%), followed by Māori (20%).
Just under a third (32%) of New Zealanders say they know where to report content that could be considered concerning, harmful, or dangerous.

High numbers of respondents also said they were very or extremely concerned about AI:

being used to produce harmful content, such as deepfakes (68%, asked for the first time in 2025)
being used for malicious purposes (65%, up from 58% in 2024)
having insufficient regulation and law governing its development (64%, up from 53% in 2024)

InternetNZ chief executive Vivien Maidaborn said in a press release:

“…It’s important that we’re all participating in conversations about how [social media is] shaped and how it should, and shouldn’t, shape our lives. This is particularly important when considering the power held by global social media platforms. New Zealand needs to consider, as a society, what our expectations on platforms operating in our jurisdiction should be, given the massive role they play in our lives.”

On AI, Maidaborn also said:

“There are some really valid concerns here about AI. New technologies offer a lot of exciting and useful opportunities, but we haven’t yet laid the groundwork to ensure AI use is not exacerbating harmful use of the Internet. AI right now is a bit like a train that’s left the station before the tracks have been built.”

See more coverage of the Insights Report on Waatea News and Newsroom.

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Related news: NZSIS releases report

Te Pā Whakamarumaru | New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has released New Zealand’s Security Threat Environment 2025. The assessment makes six key conclusions about New Zealand’s threat environment, including:

The most plausible violent extremist attack scenario in New Zealand remains a lone actor who has radicalised online and prepares for violence without any intelligence forewarning. Any attacker is most likely to use easily accessible weapons.
Grievances and polarising issues in the online information space are almost certainly driving support for a range of violent extremist ideologies within New Zealand. No one ideology currently stands out as presenting a greater threat.
Young and vulnerable people in New Zealand are particularly at risk of radicalisation, especially while online.

As reported by Stuff, Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton told Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee:

“There’s also the ability for people to go a long way down the radicalisation path by just engaging with a computer. So that is a concern… At a very pragmatic level, I am keen for parents to take a stronger interest in what their kids are looking at online… If you look at our current active investigations... it looks like a year 13 boys’ school, and the diversity you would see there. There is not a single ideology or single ethnicity. But what is common is that these are largely people who are spending a lot of time online engaging with quite violent content.”

AUT Senior Lecturer in education Judy Bruce agrees that incidents of toxic masculinity and extremist views are increasing in our schools and in online spaces where youth hang out.

“For example, if connection and belonging needs are not met in everyday life, virtual spaces will become the ways in which [young people] seek them… Harmful content online, including violent material and extremist views, can be scary and confusing. As adults, we need to have conversations with young people that open up spaces for dialogue rather than shutting it down. The trick is to do this in a way that isn't judgmental or further entrenches harmful views or beliefs."

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Related news: ANROWS release manosphere resource

ANROWS have released a new resource for educators: An Introductory Guide to the Manosphere and the Impacts for Young People, Teachers and Schools (2026). Written by Monash University researchers in partnership with ANROWS, the guide aims to help educators understand and respond to the growing influence of manosphere content in young people’s online worlds. It provides practical insights including: