TUANZ Media release: TUANZ welcomes online safety focus and calls for collaborative approach to protecting young New Zealanders

/in , , /by

AUCKLAND, 24 August 2026 – The Technology Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) supports the Government’s commitment to reducing online harm and welcomes the opportunity to work alongside Government, industry, educators and communities to ensure the legislation delivers practical, effective and enduring improvements in online safety.

TUANZ, representing New Zealand’s technology users for 40 years, supports the Government’s commitment to reducing youth online harm. We specifically welcome the introduction of substantial financial penalties of up to 10 per cent of a platform’s global annual revenue along with the requirement for annual child safety risk assessments. This represents a strong step toward genuine platform accountability, shifting the legal and technical burden of safety away from individual families and onto the platforms themselves.

However, TUANZ is raising several urgent questions about the technical practicality, privacy implications, and social equity of a blunt, exclusion-based age ban. “We must move toward a ‘Security by Design’ philosophy where trust is earned because safety is an inherent, built-in feature of digital services, not an optional extra,” says Craig Young, CEO of TUANZ. 

“We share the Government’s objective of reducing harm experienced by young people online. The opportunity now is to work together on solutions that improve safety while also protecting privacy, maintaining access to legitimate support networks, and ensuring measures can be implemented effectively.”

TUANZ believes there are several important implementation questions that would benefit from further discussion between Government, technology experts, educators, community groups and industry before the legislation progresses.

  • The Privacy and Data Security Risk: How will the Government guarantee that mass biometric and ID data verification won’t compromise the cybersecurity of everyday New Zealanders?
  • The Circumvention Reality: How will New Zealand avoid the Australian outcome, where two-thirds of banned youth bypassed the controls, especially since VPNs are left unregulated ?
  • The Isolation of Vulnerable Youth: How will the Government prevent the sudden social isolation of rural, disabled, Māori, Pacific, and Rainbow youth who rely on these digital communities for peer support ?
  • Embedding Resilience in the Curriculum: Why is the Government prioritizing a blunt ban over mandating digital literacy as a core, lifelong skill in the national school curriculum ?
  • Enforcement at Scale: What practical resourcing and tools will the Secretary for Internal Affairs receive to actively audit and enforce algorithmic transparency against multi-trillion-dollar global tech giants?

“Creating a safer online environment for young New Zealanders will require Government, industry, educators, families and technology platforms to work together,” Mr Young says. “We welcome the opportunity to participate constructively in the select committee process and contribute practical expertise to help develop a framework that improves safety, protects privacy, supports vulnerable young people and earns the confidence of New Zealanders.”