Late on Friday afternoon, the Broadcasting Standards Authority bundled three complaints against The Platform and demanded recordings of three broadcasts. None of them went out over the airwaves. Every one of them was on the internet.

Around 12,000 New Zealanders have now written to the Broadcasting Minister through the Free Speech Union's campaign asking him to put the Authority back in its box. The number keeps growing.

“An unelected panel of four people in Wellington is working through a stack of complaints against an independent online publisher it has no statutory authority to regulate,” said Jillaine Heather, CEO of the Free Speech Union.

“Whether those complaints have merit is beside the point. Parliament never gave the Authority the power to hear them. Fairness, accuracy and privacy are serious matters, but there are lawful forums for them. The Broadcasting Standards Authority is not one of them.”

Every podcast. Every livestream.

The real consequence of this decision is not The Platform case alone. It is the precedent. Any New Zealander can now complain to the Authority about any livestream or podcast they dislike.

Commentator Liam Hehir spelled out how far the reading reaches: “any smartphone or laptop falls within the definition. Which means that any Zoom webinar or Twitch stream open to the public could be seen as a broadcast.” He put the question bluntly: “If the legislature considered and declined to extend the Broadcasting Act to the internet, should an appointed Authority do it via creative interpretation?”

The Spinoff's Duncan Greive, no friend of Sean Plunket, called the decision “logically inconsistent” for exempting YouTube, Netflix and every overseas streamer while reaching for one small independent publisher. Winston Peters, David Seymour and ACT's Laura McClure have all weighed in. The political centre of gravity is clear.

“This kind of mission creep always starts with someone controversial,” said Heather. “Today it is Sean Plunket. Tomorrow it is a podcaster with 400 listeners, or a community group on Zoom.”

The Minister needs to act

The Authority has no code for online content. No consultation. No guidance. It will judge an online publisher against standards it has not defined, using powers Parliament never granted.

The Broadcasting Minister has already signalled the Authority will “probably” be scrapped. Probably is not good enough.

The Free Speech Union is calling on Minister Paul Goldsmith to:

• Publicly confirm the Broadcasting Act does not extend to online content
• Direct the Authority to pause all complaints against online publishers pending legislative clarification
• Bring forward the Government's response on the future of the Authority

“If New Zealanders want online speech regulated, that is a conversation for Parliament, in public, with the Bill of Rights Act at its centre,” said Heather. “Not a regulator that spent twenty years asking Parliament for this power, then quietly helped themselves.” More than 12,000 New Zealanders have now told the Minister that, loud and clear.

NOTES:

1. On Friday 17 April 2026 the Broadcasting Standards Authority formally notified The Platform of three complaints from the same complainant, relating to broadcasts on 22 July, 15 October and 20 October 2025.
2. The Authority's jurisdiction decision (ID2025-063) was published on 1 April 2026 and is the first time the Authority has claimed jurisdiction over an independent online publisher.
3. The Free Speech Union's petition to the Broadcasting Minister has been running since August 2025. Total signatures to date exceed 11,800.

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