Harmful Digital Communications Act
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The Harmful Digital Communications Act is a
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
law that regulates the occurrences and impacts of issues such as online bullying, harassment, revenge porn, and other forms of digital abuse and intimidation.
Netsafe Netsafe is an online safety non-profit organisation in New Zealand. It provides educational, anti-bullying and support services. It was founded in 1998, then known as the Internet Safety Group. The organisation is contracted under the Harmful ...
is the agency approved by the New Zealand Police to process complaints about harmful digital communications.


Background

Cyberbullying and other forms of harmful digital communications have significant adverse impacts on people, especially those who are children, teenagers, disabled,
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, and seniors. The Harmful Digital Communications Act was created to address the issue.


Key provisions


Definition of digital communications

The Harmful Digital Communications Act defines digital communications as including: * Emails * Texts and pictures * Website content * Blog posts * Comments * Online forums ("Chatrooms") * Social networks or social media sites * Phone-based apps * Voice mail messages


Communication principles

The communication principles consists of ten guiding principles: #A digital communication should not disclose sensitive personal facts about an individual. #A digital communication should not be threatening, intimidating, or menacing. #A digital communication should not be grossly offensive to a reasonable person in the position of the affected individual. #A digital communication should not be indecent or obscene. #A digital communication should not be used to harass an individual. #A digital communication should not make a false allegation. #A digital communication should not contain a matter that is published in breach of confidence. #A digital communication should not incite or encourage anyone to send a message to an individual for the purpose of causing harm to the individual. #A digital communication should not incite or encourage an individual to commit suicide. #A digital communication should not denigrate an individual by reason of his or her colour, race, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.


Penalties

A person committing an offence under the act can face fines up to $50,000 or two years in prison. If the offender was a company, they can face fines of up to $200,000.


History


Legislative passage

The Harmful Digital Communications Bill's first reading was held on 14 November and 3 December 2013. The bill received cross-party support from the
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, Labour,
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and
New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...
parties. The Justice and Electoral select committee released its report on the bill on 27 May 2014. The committee proposed several amendments including changing the purpose of the bill to "deter, prevent, and mitigate harm caused to individuals by digital communications; and provide victims of harmful digital communications with a quick and efficient means of redress." Other amendments including clarifying the definitions of Internet Protocol Access Provider (IPAP), principals and "professional leaders," increasing the penalty level for the offence of non-compliance with court orders, clarifying the liability for online content hosts, and outlining the complaints process. In its minority view, the Labour Party expressed concern about the fast passage of the bill, the lack of wider consultation on the issue of harm, the impact of criminal sanctions on young people and the lack of clarity about the role of the approved agency. On 24 March 2015, Parliament voted to reject a proposal by NZ First Member of Parliament
Tracey Martin Tracey Anne Martin (born 1 July 1964) is a New Zealand former politician. She was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives between 2011 and 2020, representing the New Zealand First Party. Martin was deputy leader of New Zealand Fi ...
that the Harmful Digital Communications Bill be discharged and referred to the Justice and Electoral committee for consideration by a margin of 63 to 57 votes. National and its
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partners the
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, ACT and
United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a Centrism, centrist List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside New Zealand Labou ...
parties voted to reject the discharge proposal while the Labour, the Green and NZ First parties supported discharging the legislation. On 23 June 2015, Parliament's in-house committee voted to incorporate National MP
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' amendment into the bill by margin of 120 (National, Labour, Greens, NZ First, Māori Party, United Future) to one (ACT). That same day, Parliament voted to reject ACT MP
David Seymour David Breen Seymour (born 24 June 1983) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 21st deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2025 and as the 1st minister for regulation since 2023. A member of the ACT Party, he has served as its ...
's proposed amendment by a margin of 88 (National, Greens, NZ First, Māori Party, United Future) to 33 (Labour, ACT). On 30 June 2015, the Harmful Digital Communications Bill passed its third reading by a margin of 116 to five votes. The bill was supported by the National, Labour, NZ First, Māori, United Future parties, and Green MPs
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,
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,
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,
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,
Jan Logie Heather Janet Logie (born 26 October 1969) is a New Zealand politician and a former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She is a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Early life and career Logie was born in Invercar ...
,
Mojo Mathers Mojo Celeste Mathers (née Minrod, born 23 November 1966) is a New Zealand politician and a former Member of Parliament (New Zealand), Member of Parliament (MP) for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, Green Party. She became known through ...
,
Denise Roche Denise Maree Roche (born 9 July 1963) is a New Zealand politician. She was a member of the Waiheke Local Board and the New Zealand House of Representatives, where she represented the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 2011 to 2017. Early ...
,
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, James Shaw and
Metiria Turei Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei (born 1970) is a New Zealand academic and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2017 and the female co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to 2017. Turei resig ...
. The bill was opposed by Green MPs
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,
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, Russell Norman and the ACT party. The Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 received
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on 2 July 2015.


Amendments

In 2022, the act was amended, adding "intimate visual recording" being posted without consent as a form of harmful communication.


Enforcement

The New Zealand Police appointed
Netsafe Netsafe is an online safety non-profit organisation in New Zealand. It provides educational, anti-bullying and support services. It was founded in 1998, then known as the Internet Safety Group. The organisation is contracted under the Harmful ...
as the ''approved agency'' for the harmful communications act. In this position, the agency receives and accesses complains about harmful communications, investigates complaints, attempts to resolve complaints, forms relationships with foreign and domestic service providers, and provides education and policies on online safety. As of 2021, more than 500 people have been charged under the act, and over 14,000 complaints have been made.


Effectiveness

On 10 April 2024,
University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...
senior law lecturer Cassandra Mudgway argued that the Harmful Digital Communications Act needed to be amended to deal with anonymous online abusers and volumetric harassment. Mudgway proposed that New Zealand follow the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
in criminalising mass online harassment campaigns and pass legislation similar to the British
Online Safety Act 2023 The Online Safety Act 2023 (c. 50) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate online content. Designed to protect children and adults online, it passed on 26 October 2023 and gives the relevant Secretary of State the power, s ...
making social media companies legally responsible for user safety.


References

{{reflist 2015 in New Zealand law Internet in New Zealand