Free Speech Union welcomes Melissa Lee’s Member’s Bill to reform the Harmful Digital Communications Act

17 December 2025 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Free Speech Union welcomes Melissa Lee’s Member’s Bill to reform the Harmful Digital Communications Act 

The Free Speech Union welcomes National MP Melissa Lee’s Member’s Bill to reform the Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA), describing it as a long overdue and crucial step to amend a law that has drifted far beyond its original purpose. 

The Free Speech Union has worked closely with Melissa Lee on the development of the Bill, which responds directly to years of documented weaponisation of the HDCA against lawful speech. The Union has supported several New Zealanders who have had the law used against them as a pseudo “hate speech” law and to silence them. 

The Honourable Melissa Lee MP commented, “The HDCA was enacted to protect vulnerable people (especially youth) from online harassment. But it was used to gag a journalist doing stories and posting commentary for public interest and lawful purposes. Free speech is fundamental in a democracy. We must protect it. Thanks to Free Speech Union for giving light to the Portia Mao case, which prompted and helped me to get started on this Member’s Bill.”   

“We thank Melissa Lee for advancing this Bill and for recognising the Harmful Digital Communications Act has not operated as Parliament intended. Too often it is used to suppress lawful speech, commentary, and criticism. It has been a weapon wielded to silence and punish,” Free Speech Union CEO Jillaine Heather said. 

“This reform is urgently needed to protect against vindictive weaponisation by individuals or state proxies. Portia Mao faced HDCA proceedings brought by a CCP proxy after exposing Chinese Communist Party interference. And police themselves misused state powers to silence as we saw in the case of former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming against Ms Z.” 

The HDCA was introduced in 2015 to address genuine concerns about online bullying, particularly the reality that children could no longer escape harassment once they left school due to the rise of social media and digital platforms. It was never intended to become a mechanism for adults to silence other adults through the courts. 

“What we are seeing now is massive mission creep,” Heather says. “A law designed to protect children has become a tool routinely deployed by adults who are offended, lashing out, or unwilling to tolerate criticism. We are aware of several women who are unable to even speak about the HDCA orders taken against them by activists because they’re gagged by the court.” 

“It is evident that the HDCA is not fit for purpose,” Heather said. “When speech restrictions are easy to invoke and hard to challenge, they will inevitably be used to suppress dissent, particularly political dissent.” 

Melissa Lee’s Bill addresses these failures by requiring courts to give political commentary a higher level of protection, introducing public interest and lawful purpose defences and preventing final orders being made without giving defendants the right to be heard.  

“This Bill restores the balance Parliament originally promised,” Heather said. “These changes will not prevent it from being used for its intended purpose, but will ensure that free expression is not collateral damage.” 

The Free Speech Union is calling on MPs from all parties to support the Bill. 

“This is not a left-right issue. It is a democratic one,” Heather said. “Every party in Parliament benefits from laws that protect free political debate and prevent weaponisation by bad actors, and everyone is vulnerable when those protections are weakened.” 

ENDS