Griffin on Tech: The social media ban, sci-tech council takes shape, and PM’s pre-Budget speech
The well-meaning but misguided Australian effort to ban under-16s from social media platforms has, as expected, inspired an equally unworkable local effort to keep kids out of harm’s way online.
The National Party’s new members’ bill to ban social media access for under-16s ignited fierce debate this week about online safety, digital rights, and the practicalities of enforcement.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd, unveiled the bill, which would require social media companies to implement robust age verification, with penalties for non-compliance and a review after three years.
The move mirrors Australia’s recent legislation and responds to growing international concern about the impact of social media on youth mental health and wellbeing. But I couldn’t help finding myself in agreement with Dr Eric Crampton, the New Zealand Initiative’s chief economist, who thinks trying to ban youths from the likes of X and Facebook is deeply problematic.
“I think the evidence on social media harms for kids is strong enough for parents to keep an eye on things, but not strong enough to justify bans,” he wrote this week.
A social media trilemma
He pointed out that the system will be easy to circumvent by youths, onerous for those over the legal age and could spell the end of social media pseudonymity. But how serious is the PM about this really. As Heather du Plessis-Allan pointed out on NewstalkZB, the way National has gone about taking action on a social media ban looks more like virtue signalling than a determined effort to kick kids off social media.
“A members’ bill goes into the parliamentary biscuit tin and it sits there doing nothing until it’s pulled out randomly in a ballot. That can take years for that to happen,” she said.
The coalition Government could easily introduce a government bill on the issue written in a way to garner cross-party support. But I suspect the PM knows how unworkable and expensive to administer a social media ban will be so is happy to appeal to parents worried about their kids’ mental health, but happy for the proposed ban to go nowhere. That wouldn’t be a bad outcome in my view if it avoids us going down the path the Australians have taken.
While the bill’s future is uncertain, it has sparked a useful national conversation about how best to protect young New Zealanders online without overreaching or stifling digital participation. The focus needs to be on the social media platforms themselves, what they need to do to reduce cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content and ways they can better empower parents to get more engaged in how their kids are using social media.
Science and Technology Council: big agri focus says it all
After nearly a year without a chief science advisor, the government has appointed Dr John Roche, formerly the Ministry for Primary Industries’ chief science advisor, to the role.
Roche will also serve as deputy chair of the newly established Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council, chaired by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Shane Reti.
The council includes prominent figures such as Sir Peter Gluckman, Halter founder Craig Piggott, Komal Mistry-Mehta, who runs Fonterra’s venture capital arm, Merryn Tawhai, a scientist at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, and Genesis Energy CEO Malcolm Johns.
The council’s composition has drawn mixed reactions. While many welcome the belated focus on science strategy and the inclusion of experienced leaders, some in the research community have voiced concerns about the heavy representation from the dairy and agricultural sectors, and the lack of explicit mātauranga Māori expertise.
The government’s intent is clear: to ensure science investment delivers tangible economic benefits. The challenge will be balancing this with the broader needs of and a bruised and battered research ecosystem and public good science.
Advanced tech gets the cash
This week saw an unexpected win for Wellington’s Robinson Research Institute which scored $71 Million in government funding from the Strategic Science Fund over seven years to establish an advanced technology science platform. The institute is internationally recognised for its work in superconductors, magnets, and materials science, and the new funding will accelerate research in areas ranging from quantum computing to fusion energy and advanced medical devices.
But it’s unclear exactly how this will integrate into the new advanced tech public research organisation that the government is setting up. But the flurry of science-related announcements make sense when you listen to what the PM had to say in his pre-Budget address to Business New Zealand.
He very much sees technology and innovation as pillars of economic strategy and wants more commercialisation of research by our businesses and emphasised that targeted investment in research, development, and advanced technology is essential for New Zealand to keep pace with the global innovation frontier.
He confirmed that the Research and Development Tax Incentive will be retained to give businesses certainty for ongoing innovation. That will have come as a relief for the hundreds of companies that currently take advantage of it.
Emulating the Celtic Tiger
Luxon is hoping that the new Invest NZ will attract foreign investment into New Zealand’s tech and innovation sectors in the same way that Ireland’s IDA has been so successful in attracting investment from multinationals, particularly tech and pharmaceutical companies.
But Ireland is perched at the edge of Europe and a low corporate tax rate was key to luring companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Meta there. What do we have to attract foreign dollars here? The investment case still needs to be articulated.
As the Budget approaches, the science community and the wider tech sector will be watching closely to see how these ambitions translate into action, and whether any momentum can be gained before the political parties become distracted once again by an upcoming general election.
Meanwhile, what’s the Labour Party thinking about when it comes to science, tech and innovation policy? On this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, I interviewed shadow spokesman Reuben Davidson to find out.
