with Dr Karaitiana Taiuru
This category has unique insights, articles and analysis into Māori Issues relating to cyber safety.
Net Safe reports are also analysed for Māori views and risks so that trends that impact on Māori on the Internet are easily accessed.
Note: This article was first prepared for offline presentations when the reports it discusses were released. It has since been updated and published online on the date shown. In 2023, Māori and other New Zealanders were equally worried about online harm. By 2025, they weren’t. InternetNZ’s annual Internet Insights survey asks New Zealanders how concerned … Read more
Note: This article was first prepared for offline presentations when the reports it discusses were released. It has since been updated and published online on the date shown. In July 2024, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology published the Cabinet paper Approach to work on Artificial Intelligence, which set out the Government’s “light-touch, proportionate … Read more
Māori are over-represented among people prosecuted and convicted under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015. Across the ten years from 2016/17 to 2025/26, Māori made up 22.2% of people with finalised charges and 23.8% of people convicted, against 17.8% of the population at the 2023 Census. In 2025/26, 40 Māori had finalised charges (23% of … Read more
Māori experience more online harm than other New Zealanders, and it is getting more serious. In Netsafe’s 2025 survey, 48% of Māori received unwanted digital communications in the past year, against 38% of all New Zealanders. Of those Māori, 52% said it harmed their daily life, up from 39% in 2023. The survey covered 543 … Read more
Māori are named in only about a third of New Zealand news stories about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Māori are talked about, but rarely heard. When you count who is quoted, Māori technology, rights and data sovereignty voices make up just 3% of media articles. This creates an issue where Māori societal harms, opportunities and benefits … Read more
There is an urgent need for marae to implement new kawa and tikanga to protect the people form anonymously being AI’s training data. Camera glasses (pervert glasses) now sold at Kmart for ninety-nine dollars, and other more expensive glasses with facial recognition updates, recording video and stills, wired to an AI assistant are about to … Read more
Too often in New Zealand, AI safety folk (who usually have a high level of privilege or are detached from vulnerable communities), will reference international AI stories highlighting harms while being oblivious to local harm stories. This is important from the perspective that New Zealand is not immune from AI harms and it helps politicians … Read more
The New Zealand media continue to report on AI harms from a western, academic, middle-class perspective while continuing to make invisible communities silent and ignored. This is a te ao Māori perspective of the recent MSD automated Decision Making law that was passed, delving deep into community harms for Māori. I have spent years documenting … Read more
The 2026 Online Exposure: Experiences of Extreme or Illegal Content in Aotearoa report from the Classification Office provides a comprehensive look at the prevalence and impact of extreme or illegal online content within New Zealand. This report examines the experiences of extreme or illegal content among various age groups and how it affects the population. … Read more
AI Agents are to Māori what Captain Cook and his Endeavour Ship and crew were. If Māori understood the challenges and intergenerational colonisation they were capable of, the historical outcomes would be very different. Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents are rapidly becoming autonomous actors within social, economic, and governmental systems. For Māori, these agents introduce new … Read more
The digital future is being written right now. AI is already here. Māori are at a crossroads. Māori Data Sovereignty is now a must. In an increasingly digitised world, Artificial Intelligence systems and algorithms shape key aspects of daily life, from healthcare to law enforcement. However, these technologies are often developed without sufficient regard for … Read more
Toitū te Tiriti Lawyer, Tania Waikato who has become prominent online with sharing legal advise. She posts tutorials about how to write submissions against the racist Regulatory Standards Bill here in New Zealand and has been banned from Facebook. Her content was civil, polite and factual. It only served to enlighten people of the impacts … Read more
Earlier this week the Honourable Winston Peters, in an open parliament debate about the punishment of three politicians of the Māori Party, made what is considered a derogatory and racist comment. He commented about the Honourable Rawiri Waititi’s moko kanohi. This is a traditional tattoo that covers the face, while a moko kauae is on … Read more
One.nz released their AI Trust Report today. It covers New Zealanders’ attitudes towards AI in 2025. Interestingly, it aligns to the research done by the AI Forum, PSA, InternetNZ, and DataCom. Additionally, many other New Zealand initiated research on AI show similar findings. While One.nz report didn’t mention Māori or Pacifika, it did report on … Read more
The AI action figure trend, where users generate personalised or stylised figures using AI tools (like custom avatars, toy-like images, or even physical 3D printed models based on AI renderings) carries several risks, particularly around privacy, ethics, cultural appropriation, and deepfake potential. From a Māori perspective, the AI action figure trend presents serious risks associated … Read more
In 2014, I wrote how Google Translate brought te reo Māori into the new digital world with Spam and Phishing, etc. Now Artificial Intelligence (AI) is using te reo Māori in many new ways, including by the Russian backed Pravda group to provide news/disinformation to New Zealanders. Artificial Intelligence is deploying te reo Māori in … Read more
All three New Zealand mobile network operators – 2degrees, One NZ and Spark will be shutting down their 3G cell phone coverage later this year. For those of us with tech privilege, who have no digital inequity, we will enjoy further benefits of more capacity in the spectrum. This will create new technologies, new opportunities … Read more
Earlier this week X (formerly Twitter) updated its Privacy Policy to indicate that it would allow third-party “collaborators” to train their AI models on X data, unless users opt out. Thanks to TechCrunch who first published the details. If you have already locked down your Twitter Privacy, there appears no change. This is a timely reminder that your posts … Read more