Inquiry into youth online harm

Committee recommendation

InternetNZ response

1

Address legislative gaps and overlaps 

We recommend that the Government review the legislative framework for online safety, including, but not limited to, the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 and the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015, to: 

• address current and emerging risks 
• introduce new offences and penalties associated with online harm. 

Agree. This is well overdue and necessary to address the underlying and systemic causes of online harm. This should be prioritised by the Government.

2

Strengthen liability for online harm  

We recommend that the Government review the legislative framework for online safety, with a particular view to increasing platforms’ civil and regulatory liability for harm resulting from: 

• the content they host 
• platform design (such as use of algorithms and infinite scroll features). 

General support for a review, but support for any specific changes would need to be assessed — including an Internet Impact Assessment.

3

Establish an independent national regulator for online safety 

We recommend that the Government establish an independent national regulator for online safety in New Zealand. The regulator should have a full suite of modern regulatory tools and a flexible mandate that allows it to be nimble in response to emerging harms and technologies. 

We recommend that the Government propose empowering this regulator to make, or advise the Minister on, secondary and tertiary legislation to give effect to regulatory proposals within its intended mandate.  

Agree. We strongly support the introduction of an independent national regulator. This should be prioritised by the Government.  

Any secondary and tertiary legislation should be developed in consultation with technical experts and the community using a multistakeholder approach. 

4

Introduce age restrictions for social media platforms 

We recommend that the Government progress its consideration of restricting social media access for under-16-year-olds, noting that the majority of us consider doing so is necessary to mitigate the harms young New Zealanders face online. 

While we understand the motivations for introducing a ban on social media for children and young people, there are a number of risks and unintended consequences with this regulatory approach, particularly in relation to privacy, cybersecurity, blocking access to online services and inherent risks with the technical tools used for age assurance. In a New Zealand context, a social media ban will simply be a blunt band-aid on a broken regulatory system.  Isolated fixes (e.g., age assurance) are ineffective and often overly intrusive. 

If the under-16 social media ban policy progresses into law, then there needs to be robust governance and safeguards, particularly with regard to privacy, safety, security and responsive and accessible complaints and appeal pathways for users.    

Overall, we disagree that this highly intrusive regulatory approach would effectively minimise online harm for young people in Aotearoa. 

5

Ban “nudify” apps and prohibit the creation and distribution of non-consensual deepfake sexual imagery 

We recommend that the Government take immediate action to condemn and ban all web- and device-based applications that automate or substantially lower the technical barrier to creating deepfake sexual imagery of real people.  

We would recommend prioritising addressing problems at the system level with strategy, research, programming, and regulation that addresses the underlying causes of this form of online harm, with a specific focus on platform regulation.  

We support changes to criminalise the distribution of non-consensual deepfake imagery.  

We are concerned that banning image-producing tools, apps or sites that are misused may lead to over-reach and limit legitimate and lawful access to online services. This policy problem may be better addressed through platform transparency and risk assessments with accountability to an independent regulator.

6

Explore options to regulate deepfake technology 

We recommend that the Government explore options to regulate deepfake technology as part of a wider legislative and regulatory review, or task this to the regulator to prepare further advice on.  

As per above.  

Any review should be multistakeholder, evidence-based, and proportionate.

7

Regulate algorithmic recommendation systems

We recommend that the Government closely consider taking action to regulate recommendation systems and take note of the options we have presented for this intervention. 

We recommend that the House take note that members of the Labour Party of New Zealand would recommend that Government regulate recommendation systems, rather than closely consider taking action. 

As per above.  

Any review should be multistakeholder, evidence-based, and proportionate.

8

Mandate algorithm transparency 

We recommend that the Government explore: 

• introducing powers for a regulator to require information from platforms relating to their algorithms 
• introducing requirements for platforms to provide accredited researchers with access to information about algorithm design and operation 
• regulating in a manner consistent with the EU or other counterparts. 

We recommend that the House take note that members of the Labour Party of New Zealand would recommend that the Government undertake the actions described above to mandate algorithm transparency, rather than explore them. 

We support the introduction of requirements for algorithmic transparency. We also think that there is a need to increase transparency for the public.  

9

Restrict online advertising of alcohol, tobacco, and gambling 

We recommend that the Government regulate to prevent online advertising of restricted goods to young people under the age of 18, in a way that aligns with the relevant offline advertising restrictions. 

While we understand the motivations for this recommendation (as with the age restriction on social media), we do not support the identification by platforms of people under the age of 18. As outlined above, age assurance systems have a number of risks.  

The global Internet Society recently provided a Policy Brief on the topic of age restrictions and online safety. They have advised that there are three common types of age assurance systems, which can be implemented at the device, operating system, app store, online service, or network level, but “all have tradeoffs with reliability, ease of access, privacy, and security”. 

10

Educate and empower parents, caregivers, and young people 

We recommend that the Government invest in public online safety campaigns or consider ways to fund the creation and promotion of comprehensive resources designed to educate and inform parents, caregivers, and young people about online safety. 

We strongly support this recommendation. This should be prioritised by the Government.

11

Promote New Zealand-based research 

We recommend that the Government promote further research grounded in the New Zealand context, further deriving benefit from our recommendation to mandate algorithm transparency. 

We strongly support this recommendation. This should be prioritised by the Government.

12

Consider further matters 

We recommend that the Government consider each of the matters set out in Chapter 4 of this report and/or task them to the regulator recommended above to further consider, as appropriate. 

Any review should be multistakeholder, evidence-based, and proportionate.

We do not support VPN regulation and share many of the concerns raised by the ACT and Green Parties in their alternative reports. There are valid reasons why many people use VPNs, including for security and to protect against surveillance. VPN technology is standard practice for good cybersecurity and is regularly used by many businesses both nationally and globally, including the government. VPNs are particularly important for human rights defenders and members of communities that are frequent targets for abuse, harassment, and violence.