Online harm 2023 vs 2025

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 they are about online safety. In 2023, Māori concern was within a few points of the national figure on every measure. Two years later, the gap has opened up, and it’s growing in a way policymakers should notice.

Share “extremely” or “very” concerned:

Identity theft

• 2023: 66% all NZ, 65% Māori
• 2025: 59% all NZ, 70% Māori

Online crime

• 2023: 67% all NZ, 64% Māori
• 2025: 62% all NZ, 69% Māori

So concern is falling nationally and rising for Māori. The gap went from Māori slightly below the national figure to 7–11 points above it.

The 2025 survey also shows:

• Online harm: 20% of Māori have personally experienced online harm or harassment, against 15% overall.
• Dangerous or discriminatory messaging: 64% of Māori are seriously concerned about the internet being used to share it, against a 61% average.
• AI: Māori report less knowledge of AI (23% know a fair amount or a lot, against 31% overall), and more of us are more concerned than excited about it (54% against 47%).

Nationally, worry about AI is rising fast. 52% of New Zealanders are now extremely or very concerned about AI’s impact on society. 65% are concerned about AI being used for malicious purposes, up from 58% in 2024, and 64% think AI law and regulation are inadequate, up from 53%. Two-thirds (68%) are worried about AI being used to make harmful content such as deepfakes.

What these numbers show: Māori concern isn’t abstract. It follows exposure. We are more likely to experience online harm, and our concern about identity theft and online crime is rising while everyone else’s eases.

At the same time, Māori report less knowledge of AI and more wariness of it. AI is moving into the systems that hold our whakapapa, health, justice and social sector data, and the people most exposed to the harms are the least well served by how it’s being introduced.

That’s why “one approach for all New Zealanders” doesn’t work for AI governance. Te Tiriti o Waitangi has to be a constitutional threshold, not a consultation box ticked late in the process. Data residency is not data sovereignty. And people’s safety online can’t be designed around an average that hides who is carrying the risk.

Sources: InternetNZ, New Zealand’s Internet Insights 2023; InternetNZ, Aotearoa Internet Insights 2025 (Verian, n = 1,003).
https://internetnz.nz/new-zealands-internet-insights/new-zealands-internet-insights-2025/