NZ Parliamentary Committee recommends age assurance for social media

Age assurance should be required for people accessing social media in New Zealand to keep people under 16 away from online harms, a Parliamentary Committee report says. The Committee’s report on an “Inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders encounter online, and the roles that Government, business, and society should play in addressing those harms” also addresses harms involving deepfake pornography, online advertising and algorithmic recommendation systems.

The 46-page final report from the Education and Workforce Committee includes some differences of opinion, but concludes “that harm to young New Zealanders from online platforms is severe and requires urgent responses from Government, business, and society alike.”

Alignment with other countries’ efforts is the best approach, the report says, explicitly referring to efforts in the EU, UK and Australia. The country’s Privacy Commissioner has already expressed skepticism with Australia’s approach

The report offers 12 recommendations for the form those responses should take.

The Committee wants (in order of presentation) legislative gaps and overlaps dealt with, stronger liability for online harm and the establishment of an independent online safety regulator. It says social media should be restricted to New Zealanders 16 and over,  “nudification” apps and creating or disseminating non-consensual deepfake pornography should be banned, and other regulations for deepfakes explored. Algorithmic recommendation systems should be regulated, algorithmic transparency mandated and online advertising of alcohol, tobacco and gambling restricted. The Committee also wants to “educate and empower parents, caregivers and young people,” promote domestic research on the issue and “consider further matters.”

Political party ACT New Zealand, a junior member in the coalition government with the fourth-most seats in parliament, disagrees on the need for a regulator, to ban “nudify” apps and non-consensual deepfake porn, regulating deepfakes and recommendation systems, requiring algorithmic transparency and the further exploration.

Both ACT and the Green Party, with the third-most seats in parliament, disagree with the social media age restriction.

The explanations from both ACT and the Green Party about their opposition to the social media restriction are based in large part on the common misconception that all age checks involve identity verification.

“ACT believes that working on responses requiring the likes of digital ID for age verification should not be the priority of the Government, and instead the Government should focus on a sophisticated and carefully considered response,” the party says in its differing view. No indication is offered of what such a response might be.

The Committee heard submissions from people suggesting age verification would require sharing proof of identity and introduce privacy risks, which is listed among the challenges with applying age assurance to social media. Elsewhere in the report the Committee refers to technologies that can provide age assurance without identifying the individual, implicitly referring to biometric facial age estimation.

VPNs can be used to avoid local restrictions, which the Committee referred back to the government as one of the points for further consideration.

How to differentiate social media platforms where harms are found from other kinds of online resources, including “appropriately moderated forums” is acknowledged as a challenge.

In the Committee majority’s assessment, the government’s proposed approach is proportionate, and could be carried out within 12 months. It was not able to assess cost-effectiveness, however, as the government did not provide enough information about its proposed approach.

A government response is due by June 3.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric age estimation  |  New Zealand  |  regulation  |  social media