Colin Peacock did a good segment on the bill proposed by National MP Catherine Wedd, aping the Australian government's attempt to ban under-16s from social media (with the head-scratching exemption for YouTub);
https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=3ad7cf4e-6f76-4fcc-8d74-de5fc080f878
Like all such laws, it would require anyone using social media to identify themselves to service hosts, so they can verify age. Corporate DataFarmers would love to have this information.
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Fortunately, plenty of people in the establishment seem to understand the threats it poses to fundamental rights (like freedom of expression). So it doesn't seem likely to pass.
But it could be an opportunity to campaign for regulation of corporate DataFarming that is technically practical, and addresses the real problems.
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This is not the first wave of calls for age verification for online services. Here's an article from 2006 about My Space grappling with it, along with other social media platforms popular at the time;
https://www.wired.com/2006/07/myspace-faces-age-old-web-problem/
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