Parents In Aotearoa New Zealand Back Parental Choice & App Store–Level Approval — A Better Path Than A Social Media Ban

As New Zealand considers proposals to restrict teenagers’ access to social media, new research shows parents want solutions that put them in the driver’s seat — and they strongly support a practical approach that can work across all apps: parental approval at the app store level.

A recent survey of New Zealand parents, conducted by Ipsos on Meta’s behalf, found that most New Zealand parents believe they should be able to decide if their teens are allowed to use social media — not the government.

A majority of parents surveyed (57%) say they would prefer parents be able to choose whether their teens under 16 are allowed to have social media accounts over a ban on social media for those under 16 (43%).

When asked who should be most responsible for deciding whether teens can have social media accounts, nearly three-quarters of parents surveyed (73%) say it should be parents, whereas only 21% say the New Zealand government.

“Parents want more tools and more control — not blanket bans that create new complexities and unintended consequences like pushing teens to unregulated apps and services,” says Antigone Davis, vice president and global head of safety at Meta. “Previous research studies have only asked about social media bans versus the status quo, which likely overstates support for a ban in New Zealand relative to alternative solutions such as parental consent.”

More than four-in-five parents surveyed (85%) support a law requiring parental approval for children under 16 to download apps. The Apple App Store and Google Play already have the capability to manage app distribution for families.

“A consistent, app store–level approach can help ensure parental approval happens before a teen downloads an app, and in a way that’s simpler for families and more workable across the entire app ecosystem,” says Ms Davis.

This type of model has been introduced in nearly 30 states since 2025 and Congress in the US, with versions already signed into law in Texas, Utah, Louisiana, and California, as well as in Brazil.

Why app stores are the right place for parental approval

A policy that requires parental approval at the point of download can be more effective than trying to enforce different rules across many individual apps. App stores are uniquely positioned to deliver a consistent experience for parents because they are the central gateway for downloading apps and already support family features.

New Zealand parents agree: three-quarters of parents surveyed (76%) say it would be easier to provide approval in one place, like an app store, versus separately in each app, and 69% say they would trust app stores more than individual apps to securely handle the personal data needed to verify parental approval.

Lessons from Australia: bans raise questions about accuracy of age verification and other unintended consequences

New Zealand can also learn from Australia’s experience. Since the implementation of Australia’s social media ban law, media and other reports have shown there remain numerous challenges with implementation, including inconsistent age verification methods across industry and challenges with using facial age estimation to determine age, particularly at the age 16 boundary, with natural error margins requiring age buffers of two to three years.**

That’s why Meta supports an approach that is more effective, privacy-conscious, and practical for parents: legislation that requires parental approval at the app store level, combined with stronger protections built directly into products. And it’s consistent with what New Zealand parents are asking for—80% of parents surveyed say they would support social media companies creating special accounts for teenagers with additional protections, such as restricted settings by default and parental controls.

Ms Davis says, “Meta’s Teen Accounts are designed to do exactly that: put teens into a more age-appropriate experience by default, with built-in safeguards that restrict who can contact teens and what content they see, and tools to make it easier for parents to supervise how their teenagers use social media. And if you're under 16, you need your parents' permission to change these safeguards.”

Putting parents in control, rather than having a blunt ban, would also limit other concerns that have been raised by experts, youth groups, and many parents since the implementation of Australia’s social media ban law. These include:

Isolating vulnerable teens from getting support from online communities;

Driving teens to less regulated apps and parts of the internet, with increases in downloads in alternative apps; and,

Little interest from many teens and parents in stopping use of social media as noted in surveys by Resolve Political Monitor and ABC.

About the survey

Ipsos, on behalf of Meta, conducted an online survey between 15–21 January 2026 among a sample of 832 parents of children under 18 years old in New Zealand. Parent respondents were screened from a general population sample of 2,498 New Zealand adults. All general population respondents were weighted to the New Zealand Census (Stats NZ) by age, gender, region, ethnicity, and education. Results among parents have a credibility interval of ±3.9 percentage points.

**The Australian government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial final report says: “These results highlight the need for careful configuration of access thresholds. While facial age estimation technologies have improved, natural error margins and demographic variability require systems to apply age buffers – often granting access only when the estimated age exceeds the legal threshold by 2-3 years.” (full Part D report, p51)

Information about Teen Accounts in Instagram can be found in the following links:

Expanding Teen Account Protections and Child Safety Features

Hundreds of Millions of Teens Are Now in Teen Accounts

Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents

Bio: Antigone Davis - Vice President & Global Head of Safety

Based in Washington D.C., Antigone works with internal teams at Meta, NGOs, experts and policymakers to ensure Meta is an online safety leader. She spearheads its Safety Advisory Council, Global Safety Network, and several expert advisory groups. She has served on boards for the Tech Coalition, Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), The National Center for the Victims of Crime (NCVC) and WePROTECT. Prior to Meta, she was Senior Advisor to a State Attorney General, where she established its first privacy unit and led the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) presidential initiative Privacy in the Digital Age. In addition to her legal degree, she has an MA in Education and has spent the better part of her career focused on child related issues.

© Scoop Media