Experts are warning the Government that “addictive platforms and harmful marketing” are putting young New Zealanders at risk.
And they are urging MPs to take account of the growing evidence of harm and strengthen protections.
Public Health Communication Centre researchers will today present the results of their work, “exposing some of the intensive marketing of unhealthy products and young people’s concerns around digital harm” to Parliament’s education and workforce committee.
The committee is running an inquiry examining the harm young people face online and what roles the Government, businesses and society should play in addressing it.
The researchers say that accessing digital spaces can be “beneficial and affirming” for young people, but these environments also expose them to “powerful commercial and social risks”.
“Young people told us that social media can be a positive space, spreading awareness, making people happy, and keeping them connected. But they also spoke of constant exposure to harmful marketing and content that was inescapable,” said Professor Antonia Lyons from the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland.
Lyons and her co-authors Jessica Young, Fiona Sing, Ian Goodwin, Tim McCreanor, Angela Moewaka Barnes and Taisia Huckle have found that “nearly all young people” in New Zealand (97%) are online “several times” a day and often use five or more platforms. The most common are Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok.
They carried out surveys and in-depth interviews with more than 3600 people aged 14-20 and identified three concerning trends: pervasive unhealthy marketing, habit-forming platforms and harmful content exposure.
“Participants frequently encountered advertising for alcohol, vaping and ultra-processed foods, often before they were legally old enough to purchase these products,” the authors stated.
“Many described feeling ‘addicted’ to social media itself, with algorithm-driven feeds designed to maximise time online while harvesting personal data.
“Body-shaming, self-harm, hate speech, and other unwanted content appeared alongside valued content, making harmful material difficult to avoid.
“One 17-year-old Māori participant said, ‘I get a lot of beer ads on my Instagram … vaping and tobacco as well … it was almost like inescapable on all social media platforms’.”
The researchers also emphasised that these risks worsen health inequities, as digital marketing of addictive products “disproportionately harms Māori and other communities already facing disadvantage”.
“Better protection of young people from online harms is needed, given the growing importance of digital spaces to social, civic and commercial life,” they said, and young people should be involved in the development of any proposed solutions.
“Key actions could include banning commercial digital marketing of harmful commodities and extending liability for online harm to social media platforms.”
They suggested the Government consider “a rights-based approach to digital redesign” to minimise algorithmic promotion of content.
“It should move beyond simple age-limit regulations and focus on creating age-appropriate platform design to reduce harms.”
In a briefing released publicly about their research, the authors said there was “mounting evidence” that digital spaces were filled with “harmful commodity marketing” that reached young people.
“Industries that sell addictive or habituating commodities use digital marketing to recruit young consumers to increase their consumption over lifetimes.
“This has long-term negative health consequences … The current Government inquiry into harms youth encounter online needs to recognise the challenge this poses.
“In this briefing, we highlight youth voices from recent studies to articulate some of the harms they shared and propose potential protections that reduce the harms but retain the benefits of social media that young people enjoy.”
The research details how digital marketing, which can occur anytime, anywhere, especially via smartphones, normalises and intensifies the attraction of unhealthy products and recruits new generations of users.
Of the young people surveyed, 59% reported using social media for more than five hours a day - including those aged under 18 - and they described “pervasive digital marketing of unhealthy commodities” in their feeds throughout the day and night, which targeted them and encouraged consumption.
A 19-year-old told the researchers: “And for children, like, since you’re very impressionable, if you as a kid go through these experiences, you can end up idolising alcohol, you know, being ‘Oh, this is cool.’”
Young people also spoke about becoming “addicted” to social media, particularly TikTok, and their concerns about how much time they “wasted” online.
“What does concern me is the aspect of just getting me more addicted to my phone … Like, I mean, nine hours, thirty-two minutes on a Thursday on my phone … and they’re just getting more data to make my ads more personal to me,” said an 18-year-old.
While most participants stressed the benefits of connectivity in their responses, they also said they were “mindful of how it intrudes upon social and material realities”.
One teen said: “What I feel about social media in general was it can be quite a hindrance. Like, in terms of being attentive to life in general, the real life in front of you.
“But there’s also, there’s pros and cons … like, you can get to know what’s happening around the world, but then you also get cut off from people that are around you in real life.”
The participants also told the researchers that “unwanted” harmful content was “readily shown” on the platforms they used, including body-shaming, self-harm, alt-right content and hate speech.
They described how “problematic materials could be unpredictably juxtaposed with valued content”.
One teen said: “TikTok was awful as you couldn’t filter out content that is harmful, like content that would show people cutting themselves or starving themselves.”
Another said “really good content” could suddenly “spiral into some really bad stuff”.
“Like, you need to be skinnier. You need to drink [this], do this, and like, the difference, you have to be healthy, you have to do this. Whereas it’s not just you’re okay, being you.”
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 19 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz.