Oil Shortages and Online “Safety”

I need to be blunt. The next few months are going to get harder.

A month ago I said the situation with Iran, fuel, and the cost of living would blow over sooner than we expect. I was wrong. And that’s fine. I would rather be optimistic and wrong than live in constant fear like so many do.

Even now, with tensions rising and pressure building, I’m still optimistic. We can come out the other side stronger and wiser. But only if we’re clear about what’s coming.

This global conflict is hitting PILLAR’s work hard. Foreign interference. International pressure. Election politics. All of it.

But there’s something coming that most people are missing. Online control.

The U16 social media ban is not about kids. It’s the first step toward digital ID and tighter control of the internet. We’ve said that from day one.

I don’t usually deal in “what ifs”. But in times like this, you also have to look at what’s possible. Because that’s where the real risks are hiding in plain sight, as unintended consequences.

Fuel restrictions are being talked about. That quickly becomes travel restrictions. Then working from home. Then something that starts to look a lot like lockdown again.

I don’t like it. You don’t like it. But it’s getting harder to dismiss as unrealistic, especially over the next few weeks as supply pressures bite.

Now connect that to the social media ban.

Luxon wants this done before the election. He’s said he’ll die trying. Every party except ACT is on board. And there’s public pressure pushing it forward, even though it has already failed in Australia.

If people are pushed back into working from home, they become completely dependent on digital platforms to earn a living. That’s the perfect moment to introduce new controls.

You can already hear the line:

“With so many Kiwis relying on the internet, we need to make it a safer place.”

That’s how it will be sold.

During Covid, governments didn’t have the tools to control the internet directly. That didn’t stop them leaning on platforms to censor and silence. Businesses were cut off. Voices were shut down. Narratives were controlled.

Now imagine the same environment, but with identity verification and legal enforcement built in.

That’s what this enables.

An E-Safety Commissioner with broad, subjective powers. The ability to target platforms and individuals. To decide what’s defined as “harmful” or “hateful”. To pressure companies. To control access. To erode private communication.

It sounds extreme. It isn’t.

It’s already happening in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea. It’s growing in the EU, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

And it will happen here if we let it.

We can’t control global conflict. We can’t control fuel prices. But we can draw a line here.

We can say no to online control.

We can push back against state power dressed up as compassion.

We can tell the nosey politicians and finger wagging stay at home mums with vested interests to focus on their own families instead of controlling everyone else’s.

Things may be getting tougher. But we cannot allow our world to shrink into a state surveilled “safety” utopia.

We’ve been through hard times before. This time is different.

This time, if we lose, we don’t just lose a few weeks of freedom.

We lose it for good.