New Zealand’s new stalking and harassment law is now in force, creating a specific criminal offence for behaviour that repeatedly targets another person.
The Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Act 2025 came into force on 26 May 2026. The Act introduces stalking and harassment as a standalone offence under the Crimes Act, with a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
The law applies across New Zealand, including online spaces where livestreams, social media pages, and public discussions are used to talk about family, church, politics, business, disputes, and community issues.
The law does not stop people from having opinions. It does not ban criticism, journalism, public debate, or lawful discussion. But it does create stronger consequences for repeated behaviour directed at a person when that behaviour is likely to cause fear or distress.
Under the new law, stalking and harassment can occur when a person carries out a pattern of behaviour towards another person by doing specified acts on at least two separate occasions within two years, knowing the behaviour is likely to cause fear or distress. The acts can be the same type of behaviour or different types of behaviour.
The list of specified acts is wide. It includes watching, following, loitering near, recording, tracking, contacting, communicating with, interfering with property or pets, damaging a person’s reputation, opportunities or relationships, publishing material about a person, pretending material came from that person, or acting in a way that would cause fear or distress to a reasonable person.
For livestreamers, the warning is clear.
A livestream about a person once may not automatically become stalking. But repeated livestreams naming the same person, discussing their private life, calling on others to contact them, attacking their reputation, showing where they live or work, publishing private details, or using followers to pressure them could create legal risk.
The Act also covers behaviour done indirectly through another person, institution, or organisation. It also says specified acts may be carried out by digital applications, spyware, drones, tracking devices, or artificial intelligence.
This means the risk is not limited to what a host personally says. A livestream host who encourages others to message, expose, shame, pressure, or pursue a person may place themselves in a serious position if the behaviour forms part of a repeated pattern.
Police can now issue a stalking and harassment notice if at least one specified act has occurred and Police believe the act has caused, or is likely to cause, fear or distress. Police say the new law also allows them to charge someone with stalking and harassment where the legal threshold is met.
Police say the new law applies to acts from 26 May 2026.
For New Zealand’s Samoan community, this is a law people should understand before going live, naming people, or turning personal disputes into public broadcasts.
Online arguments can feel casual. People may think they are only talking, joking, exposing, or defending themselves. But the law now looks at the pattern, the target, and the likely effect on the person being targeted.
Public interest remains protected. The Act includes defences where the behaviour was for a lawful purpose, with a reasonable excuse, or in the public interest.
But public interest is not the same as public curiosity. A genuine public issue can be discussed without dragging in private family details, addresses, children, employers, relationships, health matters, or personal humiliation.
The safest approach for livestreamers is direct. Talk about issues. Be careful when naming private individuals. Do not publish personal details. Do not send followers after someone. Do not keep making repeated content about the same person when it is clear that person feels unsafe, distressed, or targeted.
Police advise people who feel they are being stalked or harassed to report concerns early through 105, or call 111 if there is immediate danger.
The new law is not limited to someone following another person down the street. It also covers the way harm can happen online, inside communities, and through repeated public targeting.
Livestreams can inform and connect people. They can also damage lives when they become tools for repeated humiliation, exposure, or intimidation. Under New Zealand’s new stalking and harassment law, that behaviour may now carry criminal consequences.
