New Zealand's child exploitation filtering system will now block AI-generated abuse material alongside photographic content, as global reports of such material rose 400%.
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden announced the expansion, saying the department has started incorporating a new block list from the Internet Watch Foundation into its Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System. The updated list covers non-photographic depictions such as AI-generated material, cartoons, animations and other computer-generated imagery.
Internal Affairs received 151 reports from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children relating to suspected AI-generated child sexual abuse material during 2025. That number climbed to 267 in the first three months of 2026.
"It's an exponential growth," van Velden said. "That increase shows how quickly this threat is evolving."
The minister said "AI-generated child abuse material is illegal under the New Zealand Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act", adding that "expanding the filter is a step to disrupt access to this objectionable material and strengthen New Zealand's response to online child exploitation".
Internal Affairs currently runs a filter that prevents access to websites hosting child sexual abuse material. The new block list extends that system to cover non-photographic content.
van Velden said the department acted quickly after testing the technology. "We wanted to make sure the technology would be seamless, having tested it, they've already started to integrate it. It shows we're working fast."
"The department is moving to get ahead of this new technology because this type of content is disturbing and it is illegal in New Zealand," she said. "As technology changes, our response must change too."
Kerry Smith, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said non-photographic depictions are not victimless crimes and can be a pathway to contact abuse.
"We greatly value the collaboration of the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand in confronting this toxic threat and form of child abuse head on," Smith said.
Spark was the first New Zealand ISP to adopt the Internet Watch Foundation's Non-Photographic Imagery list last year.