John Marshall
@johnm.bsky.social
961 followers 318 following 322 posts
Bioinformatics tools developer at Australia’s Centre for Population Genomics. Will edit GA4GH specifications for food. New Zealander fairly recently returned after a decade in the U.K.
![As you are my local MP, I am writing to encourage you, and Labour, not to support National’s Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill.
This is a bill that both does not address the problem it is trying to solve, and restricts legitimate democratic organisation of under 16 year olds.
A central issue is that the law initially defines platforms by harmful features, but then exempts whole classes of services according to their stated primary purpose. A messaging or gaming platform may still contain recommender systems, public or semi-public communities, direct contact with strangers, disappearing messages, engagement feedback, commercial profiling, in-game purchases, or other harmful features.
The available NZ evidence [1] [2] identifies harm through content, contact, conduct, commercial practices, and platform design, not simply through conventional social-media feeds.
So the sources of harm identified targeted in the National’s proposed law are not the sources of harm actually being reported by young people. This exemptions method is not fit for purpose.
Academic work has also shown that young people use social media to poltically organise for causes of interest [3], and early evidence from the Australian ban is among under-16 users whose social-media use was significantly disrupted, 51% reported receiving less news as a direct result. Those affected also reported fewer opportunities to discuss news and issues that mattered to them [4].
I think it is part of Labour’s values that young people of the opportunity to participate in society, so that they are active particpants of society as adults.
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![Letter emailed to MP:
I see from the news today that the government finally plans to move ahead with its proposed social media ban for those under 16. RNZ reports that ACT and New Zealand First will not support this bill, and that National will therefore need Labour's support for the bill to progress.
Such bans are ill-considered and I trust Labour will not support the National Party in this. Both on its (lack of) merits, and because it is far too close to the upcoming election for Labour to be supporting any government legislative action. If Labour were to support this bill, I would not be able to support a Labour electoral candidate or the party with my vote in November. As a voter, I am sure I am not alone in this conclusion.
For further background on alternatives to such bans, I would commend to you InternetNZ's submission in response to the Education and Workforce Committee's inquiry in 2025:
[URL follows.] https://internetnz.nz/assets/Archives/Submissions/InternetNZ-Submission-on-Inquiry-into-the-roles-can-the-Government-business-and-society-can-play-in-addressing-online-harms-to-New-Zealands-youth-25-July-2025.pdf](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:zxvm77u3eti4gwz3sx6raag3/bafkreihy5efkzjouniqahzcyg22etmujvcn452kdthtwhwrzx5mokadjaa)
