The government says it has no plans to ban or restrict Virtual Proxy Networks (VPNs) as part of its under-16 social media ban, after reports emerged that work was underway and coalition partners ACT and NZ First ruled out supporting the move.
ACT leader David Seymour called it a “red line” and warned New Zealand would be adopting “Chinese-style intrusions into internet privacy”.
Multiple sources confirmed to the Post newspaper that work was well underway to restrict VPNs, a report from the Education Workforce Select Committee had also already flagged VPNs as “an area for further exploration by the regulator”, noting concerns that age restrictions could be evaded by young people using the technology.
Education Minister Erica Stanford’s office was in damage control on Tuesday afternoon, emailing the Post saying the government was “not looking at restricting or banning VPNs”. The denial coincided with Seymour’s comments, and NZ First formalised their opposition by releasing a statement confirming they would block the legislation’s progression entirely. The party revealed they had been communicating concerns to National for months, specifically targeting the policy’s lack of certainty around VPNs and digital ID tracking, while noting the failure of Australia’s identical model.
Seymour said “ACT will prevent any ban on VPNs”, warning any ban strong enough to stop a motivated teenager would be “strong enough to violate all of our privacy”, while anything weaker would be skirted “in an instant”. He pointed to Australia, where 80 per cent of teens are ignoring the ban. “VPNs are legitimate privacy and security tools… New Zealand should not be borrowing ideas from the authoritarian internet playbook,” he said.
The Free Speech Union said the proposal would have been the most significant expansion of state control over online speech in New Zealand’s history. Reality Check Radio co-founder Alia Bland backed these concerns, stating that, “Everyone wants children to be safe online. The question is whether the solution being proposed creates a much bigger problem that the one it’s trying to solve.” Bland described the measures as a Trojan horse, as the systems required to enforce them extend far beyond children.
The NZ Council for Civil Liberties chairperson Thomas Beagle said there is no technical way to implement a VPN ban anyway, short of “Chinese-style mass blocking, possibly coupled with a VPN licensing scheme, which is both oppressive and ridiculously unworkable”.
Stanford is currently designing the proposed under-16 social media ban after a simple National Party members’ bill was retracted. She has not yet taken her proposal to cabinet, but said they are “making good progress” on it. ACT and NZ First will oppose the ban itself when it is tabled.
Read more at the Post (paywalled), Scoop, Read RCR’s full press release on Facebook, NZ First on X and Pillar NZ on X.
This article was originally published by RCR Media and was republished by the Daily Telegraph New Zealand.
