New Zealand Proposes Amendments to Online Safety Act to Include Mandatory Age Verification

The New Zealand Government has released draft amendments to the Online Safety Act that would require social media platforms and other online services to implement age-verification systems to prevent children under a specified age from accessing content deemed harmful to minors. The proposed amendments, currently open for public consultation, would empower the Department of Internal Affairs to set technical standards for age assurance and impose financial penalties on platforms that fail to comply. Child-safety and privacy advocates have raised concerns that mandatory age verification could create significant privacy risks for all users, impose barriers to anonymous access for vulnerable young people seeking mental-health or LGBTQ support, and displace harmful activity to unregulated platforms rather than addressing the underlying risk of exploitation.

Verifying a birth date at the front door does not prevent harm once a user is inside, and it forces every adult to trade identity documents for access to speech. Targeted intervention addresses the threat where it occurs: in the substance and pattern of the conversation itself. A world-leading AI safety platform, Guardii monitors direct messages across major services including Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox for grooming, sextortion, coercion and age-inappropriate contact, blocking hostile messages in real time and surfacing a child at risk to a parent or safeguarding professional, without requiring platforms to collect proof of age from every user or restricting access for those who comply.