New Zealand

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

New Zealand has no social-media minimum-age statute, app-store age-verification law, or age-appropriate design code in force.

The Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 is New Zealand's content-classification regime, and its definition of publication reaches digital content stored on a disc, a computer file, or any thing capable of being reproduced by a computer or other electronic device, while distribute expressly includes providing access to a publication by means of a public data network, so the Act binds an online supplier on the same terms as a physical one.

The Act classifies a publication as objectionable, meaning its unrestricted availability would be injurious to the public good, in which case supply to any person is banned outright, or as restricted, meaning it may not be supplied, exhibited, or displayed otherwise than in accordance with the age or other limits fixed by its classification, most often an age threshold.

Separately, a person who supplies or exhibits to anyone under 18 a publication that would itself be classified objectionable for a person of that age, knowing or with reasonable cause to believe this, commits an offence, whether or not the publication is objectionable for an adult. Nothing in the Act names a specific verification method a supplier must use to confirm a recipient's age.

Instruments on record

Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993, Restricted Publications and Supply to Minors

In force

Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 (NZ), No 94, ss. 3, 122, 122A, 125-127

Effective 1994-10-01 · Applies to both

A publication classified as restricted may not be supplied, distributed, exhibited, or displayed otherwise than in accordance with its classification, most often an age limit such as 18 years or a younger specified age; doing so is a strict-liability offence, and doing so knowing or with reasonable cause to believe the publication is restricted carries a higher penalty.

Separately, supplying, distributing, exhibiting, or displaying to a person under 18 any publication that would itself be classified objectionable if made available to a person of that recipient's age is an offence where the supplier knows or has reasonable cause to believe this, regardless of whether the publication is objectionable for an adult recipient.

Distribute is defined to include providing access to a publication by means of a public data network, so an online host or platform supplying or displaying content falls within these provisions on the same terms as a physical retailer.

Age threshold	18
Enforcement body	New Zealand Police; Attorney-General's consent required for a private prosecution
Private suits	no

Source: Full text of law