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Act · 2015 · Tier 3

Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015

Also known as: HDCA, the Harmful Digital Communications Act

Last verified against legislation.govt.nz on 17 April 2026.

What it is

The Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (HDCA) is the New Zealand statute that addresses serious digital-communications harms — including harmful content about or images of individuals. It establishes a civil pathway through an approved agency (Netsafe) and the District Court, as well as criminal offences for the most serious cases.

For most residential property transactions, the HDCA is not engaged. It becomes relevant in specific circumstances — most importantly when digital content produced in the course of a transaction (inspection photographs of children's bedrooms, photographs of identifiable occupants, publicly posted content that causes harm) crosses the thresholds the Act sets.

What it covers

  • Ten communication principles (section 6) — standards that digital communications should meet, including principles against intimate imagery, disclosure of sensitive personal facts, menacing or intimidating communications, and communications about children designed to harm.
  • The civil pathway — complaints through Netsafe as the approved agency; District Court orders where matters are not resolved informally.
  • The criminal offence (section 22) — posting a digital communication with intent to cause harm, causing harm to the victim, and where an ordinary reasonable person would be harmed.
  • Remedies — orders to take down content, cease communication, and other remedies proportionate to the harm.

What it gives you

  • A structured complaints pathway through Netsafe that is free and accessible without a lawyer for most cases.
  • Specific protection for children. Digital communications about or depicting children that cause harm are addressed by both the civil and criminal pathways.
  • A basis for takedown orders where content has been distributed and needs to be removed.

The ten communication principles (section 6)

Section 6 sets ten principles. Digital communications should not:

  1. Disclose sensitive personal facts about an individual.
  2. Be threatening, intimidating, or menacing.
  3. Be grossly offensive to a reasonable person in the position of the affected individual.
  4. Be indecent or obscene.
  5. Be used to harass an individual.
  6. Make a false allegation.
  7. Contain a matter that is published in breach of confidence.
  8. Incite or encourage anyone to send a message to an individual for the purpose of causing harm to the individual.
  9. Incite or encourage an individual to commit suicide or self-harm.
  10. Denigrate an individual by reason of specified characteristics (including race, religion, disability).

The principles are not actionable in themselves; they are the framework the courts and Netsafe use to assess whether a digital communication has caused harm sufficient to engage the Act's remedies.

Where the Act intersects with property transactions

Three scenarios can engage the HDCA during a residential transaction:

  • Inspection photographs of children's private living spaces. A building inspection report that includes photographs of a minor's bedroom, distributed to prospective purchasers, engages both the Privacy Act 2020 and, where the photographs cause harm to the child, potentially the HDCA. Privacy Commissioner guidance and HDCA principles align on this point.
  • Agent or vendor conduct online. Social-media campaigns or posts about a property or a transaction that identify individuals (tenants, neighbours, prior vendors) can engage the Act if they cross the harm threshold.
  • Tenant or neighbour disputes during a sale. Communications between or about current occupants that are distributed digitally can engage the Act.

The threshold for HDCA engagement is significant — the Act is designed for serious harms, not minor privacy frictions. For most privacy issues in property transactions, the Privacy Act 2020 is the primary framework and complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner is the appropriate first step. HDCA becomes relevant where children are depicted, where the harm is severe and specific, or where takedown is the remedy sought.

The Netsafe pathway

Netsafe is the government-approved agency for HDCA complaints. The process is:

  • File a complaint with Netsafe (free, online, no lawyer required).
  • Netsafe assesses whether the complaint is within scope and attempts informal resolution.
  • If informal resolution fails, the complainant can apply to the District Court for formal orders.

In practice, many complaints are resolved at the Netsafe stage through content takedown or communication cessation, without reaching the court. The court has a range of orders available, including requiring removal of content, prohibiting further publication, ordering a correction, and identifying an anonymous author.

Key sections

Section 6 — Communication principles

The ten principles listed above. Used as the framework for assessing whether a digital communication has caused sufficient harm to engage the Act's remedies.

Section 19 — Orders the District Court may make

The civil-remedy section. Courts can order content takedown, cessation of communication, corrections, identification of authors, and other remedies.

Section 22 — Criminal offence of causing harm by posting digital communication

The criminal offence for the most serious cases. Three elements must be proven: intent to cause harm, actual harm, and that an ordinary reasonable person in the position of the victim would have been harmed. Conviction carries up to two years' imprisonment or a fine up to $50,000 for an individual, or a fine up to $200,000 for a body corporate.

Section 24 — Safe harbour for online content hosts

Section 24 is the safe-harbour provision that shapes how any platform hosting user-submitted content (including homeowner.org.nz's reviews and submitted case material) must handle takedown requests. If an online content host follows the statutory process, no civil or criminal proceedings may be brought against the host in respect of the content complained of.

The process, in outline: on receiving a complaint, the host must pass it to the author (with the complainant's personal information removed) within 48 hours; if the author replies within 48 hours consenting to takedown, the content is removed; if the author cannot be contacted after reasonable efforts, or does not reply, the content is removed within 48 hours of that cut-off. The protection requires an easily accessible mechanism for users to contact the host about specific content, and it does not apply where the content was posted on behalf of or at the direction of the host itself.

For homeowner.org.nz's moderation flow, s.24 is the operative statutory framework for verified-reviews, member case submissions, and any third-party content. Our moderation policy documents the 48-hour process explicitly; deviations from the statutory cadence would forfeit safe-harbour protection.

The 2022 Amendment Act excluded "objectionable" online content from safe-harbour eligibility — hosts cannot rely on s.24 to continue hosting content that is objectionable under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993.

When you might cite this Act

  • When inspection or marketing photographs of a minor child have been distributed. HDCA alongside Privacy Act; takedown and cessation orders are specific remedies.
  • When a social-media campaign targets you during a transaction. Where the communications cross the harm threshold, HDCA supports both takedown and a criminal complaint if serious enough.
  • When privacy breach and ongoing publication need urgent remedy. Netsafe's process is faster than traditional court proceedings for urgent takedown.
  • When you are a platform operator moderating user-submitted content. Section 24's safe harbour is the statutory framework; follow the 48-hour process exactly.

Related rules

Authoritative sources

Our guides that use this Act