Australia has approved a social media ban for under 16-year-olds, laying out a path that New Zealand could follow if we were to consider doing the same.
Under the law tech giants - from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok and X - would face fines of up to $NZ54.6 million if they do not stop minors logging into their platforms.
A trial to enforce it will start in January, with the ban due to take effect in a year.
Senior Auckland University researcher, Samantha Marsh, believes New Zealand is open to a social media ban for children.
"I think it's important that we remember, that in New Zealand from recent research we've done, families are very supportive of this," she told RNZ.
Marsh, who advocates for a ban, said the most significant harm for young people using social media concerns their well-being and mental health.
Its negative effects include increased anxiety and depression, reduced self-esteem, reduced life satisfaction, cutting down on sleep, and affecting their ability to pay attention "which is obviously really important for academic outcomes," she said.
"So there's quite a broad range of negative outcomes that social media has been associated with," Marsh said.
In New Zealand, phones have been banned in all public schools since April in a similar attempt to restrict online activity for youth.
Students who bring their phones to school need to keep them tucked away and turned off for the day.
The Social Media Minimum Age bill in Australia was set up as a test case for a growing number of governments that have legislated or plan to bring in an age restriction for social media.
Countries such as France and some US states have passed laws to restrict minors from accessing social media without a caregiver's permission, but the Australian ban is absolute.
The Australian ban faced opposition from privacy advocates and some children's rights groups, but 77 per cent of the population wanted it, according to the latest polls.
Some youth advocacy groups and academics had warned the ban could shut off the most vulnerable young people, including LGBTQIA and migrant teenagers, from support networks.
The Australian Human Rights Commission said the law may infringe human rights of young people by interfering with their ability to participate in society.
Privacy advocates meanwhile warned the law could lead to heightened collection of personal data, clearing the path for digital identification-based state surveillance.
A last-minute change to the bill specified that platforms must offer an alternative to making users upload identification documents.
"This is boomers trying to tell young people how the internet should work to make themselves feel better," said Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator for the left-leaning Greens, in a late Senate sitting just before the bill was passed 34 votes to 19.
But parent groups pushed for intervention, seizing on comments from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who in 2023 said social media was worsening a youth mental health crisis to the point where it should carry a health warning.
"Putting an age limit and giving the control back to the parents, I think it's a starting point," said Australian anti-bullying advocate Ali Halkic, whose 17-year-old son Allem took his life in 2009 following social media bullying.
