New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon said his party will introduce a bill in parliament seeking to ban children under 16 from social media, proposing fines of up to 10% of a platform's global revenue for non-compliance. The bill would require social media platforms to verify users' ages using account information, facial technology and digital identity documents.

"We simply cannot accept the harm being done to a generation of New Zealand children," Luxon said on Monday. "Social media is exposing them to harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with."

It is unclear if the bill will pass parliament. One of Luxon's coalition partners, the New Zealand First party, said it will not support it. Leader Winston Peters, also the country's foreign minister, said on X that Australia's December ban had been a "colossal failure" and that keeping children off social media should be the responsibility of parents, Guardian business reports.