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 174) and 30 Māori were convicted (27% of 110). Both are the highest counts in the series.
- Once a charge is finalised, Māori are convicted somewhat more often: 67.6% across the decade, against 64.6% for European people and 62.9% overall. The numbers are small, and the gap is not statistically reliable.
- The true figures are probably higher. People with no recorded ethnicity rose from 1–2% of those charged to 13% in 2025/26, and the Ministry of Justice warns this undercounts Māori.
- The data counts only defendants. Netsafe’s 2025 survey fills part of that gap: 48% of Māori received unwanted digital communications, against 38% of all New Zealanders, and 52% of those Māori said it harmed their daily life.
Māori share of people charged and convicted
Māori have been over-represented in every year but one. Only 2017/18, when 9 Māori were charged and 6 convicted, fell below the 17.8% population share.
Ministry of Justice, HDC Act offences (Sept 2026), Tables 4 and 6 population: Stats NZ 2023 Census via 1News
Volume is rising faster for Māori than overall. Comparing the last five years with the first five, Māori with finalised charges rose 64% (90 to 148) while all people rose 38% (451 to 623).
Convictions of Māori rose 56% (63 to 98) against 32% overall (291 to 385).
The Māori population is younger than average, and most defendants are adults, so the Māori share of the adult population is likely lower than 17.8%. Measured against that, over-representation would be larger still.
Conviction outcomes
Once charged, Māori are convicted at a higher rate than any group except Pacific Peoples, though with these numbers the gap could be chance. The conviction rate below is people convicted (Table 6) divided by people with finalised charges (Table 4), summed over ten years.
| Ethnicity | People charged (2016/17–2025/26) | People convicted | Conviction rate |
| Māori | 238 | 161 | 67.6% |
| European | 695 | 449 | 64.6% |
| Pacific Peoples | 49 | 35 | 71.4% |
| Asian | 58 | 30 | 51.7% |
| Unknown | 55 | 23 | 41.8% |
| All people | 1,074 | 676 | 62.9% |
Māori conviction rates ran from 52% (2021/22) to 84% (2019/20). The latest year sits near the top: 75% for Māori against 65% for European people.
They hold no breakdown of plea, diversion, discharge without conviction or sentence by ethnicity. Those are the points in the process where differences in treatment would show, and where an Official Information Act request would be needed.
Data quality: the growing unknown
The number of people with no recorded ethnicity has grown from 1 in 2016/17 to 22 in 2025/26, or from 2% to 13% of people charged. Among people convicted it rose from 0 to 10 (9%). The Ministry of Justice says plainly that this means the tables “undercount the number of people who are Māori.”
In 2025/26, Māori were 23% of all people charged but 26.3% of those whose ethnicity was recorded. Among people convicted the figure moves from 27% to 30%.
The Ministry gives three reasons for missing ethnicity:
- the person was summonsed or sent a letter rather than processed in custody, so Police never asked;
- the charge was filed on paper or by a private prosecutor, which carries no ethnicity field;
- recent records have had less time to be updated through later contact.
Harmful digital communications cases may often begin with a complaint rather than an arrest. Whether they are more often summonsed, and so more often left without an ethnicity record, is a question to put to the Ministry.
My 2021 analysis of the court data found Māori had the highest conviction rate once charged (77%, against 63% for European people). The ten-year figures confirm that Māori are convicted more often than European people (67.6% against 64.6%), though over the full decade Pacific Peoples’ rate is higher still (71.4%).
What this does and doesn’t show
The data shows clear disparity, but not, on its own, discrimination by Police or the courts. The strongest evidence of racial targeting is on the victim side.
What it shows
- Māori are 22% of people charged against 18% of the population, in nine of ten years.
- 48% of Māori received unwanted digital communications in 2025 against 38% of all New Zealanders, a gap too large to be chance.
- 90% of Māori who received online hate attributed it to race, against 22% of Pākehā (2018 data).
- Ethnicity is assigned by Police, victims are not counted, and missing records lower the Māori count.
What it doesn’t show
- The tables cannot separate actual offending, who is reported, Police charging decisions or age structure.
- The Māori conviction rate (67.6%) is higher than for non-Māori with known ethnicity (63.0%), but tests here suggest the gap could be chance (p ≈ 0.19 over the decade; p ≈ 0.25 for 2025/26). About 70% of people plead guilty, so conviction rates largely reflect pleas.
- There are no controls for prior record, offence section, legal representation, diversion or discharge without conviction.
References
- Ministry of Justice. (2026). Harmful Digital Communications Act offences, 2016/2017 – 2025/2026 [Data set, v1.0]. Published 15 September 2026. Download from the Ministry’s data tables page: https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/10hJFJr_Harmful-digital-communications_June-2026_v1.0.xlsx
- (2024, May 29). Nearly one million identify as being of Māori descent – Census 2023. 1news.co.nz — reports Stats NZ’s figure of 887,493 people (17.8%) in the Māori ethnic group.
- Taiuru, K. (n.d.). He Tangata, He Karetao, He Ātārangi: Kaupapa Māori AI framework. co.nz
- Kantar Public for Netsafe. (2023). 2023 Annual Māori Population Survey report. Netsafe. netsafe.org.nz
- (2025). Netsafe 2025 annual survey report. resource.netsafe.org.nz
- Bhatia, R. (2023, December 16). Nearly half of Māori experience online harm, survey finds. Te Ao Māori News. co.nz
- Taiuru, K. (n.d.). Māori online safety statistics: An ongoing crisis. Taiuru & Associates. co.nz
- Taiuru, K. (n.d.). Māori statistics of online hate speech. Taiuru & Associates. co.nz
- Taiuru, K. (2021, April 6). European men mostly charged under Harmful Digital Communications Act. Taiuru & Associates. co.nz
- Verian for Netsafe. (2025). Netsafe 2025 annual survey: Māori population report. Netsafe. netsafe.org.nz
- (2026, January 29). Online harm now disrupting daily life for many New Zealanders, new Netsafe data shows [Media release]. Scoop. scoop.co.nz
- (2026, January 15). Online hate speech in New Zealand is becoming more targeted — and the system isn’t keeping up, Netsafe warns [Media release]. Scoop. scoop.co.nz