New Zealand needs a serious conversation about “objectionable material” and how the law is being used.

A link is not the same as a private stash.

New Zealand needs a serious conversation about “objectionable material” and how the law is being used.

There is a huge difference between someone sharing a link on Facebook that leads to Telegram, and someone deliberately accessing, storing, hiding, or trading illegal material in private systems.

Those are not the same thing.

A careless share is not the same as deliberate possession.

A public link is not the same as a private archive.

And an ordinary member of the public is not the same as a police officer or senior official with power, access, protection, and public trust.

If everyday people can be dragged through court over a link, then people in authority should face even more scrutiny when there are credible allegations of deliberate access, storage, concealment, or misuse of systems.

That is not anti-police.

That is basic accountability.

And when the material involves child sexual exploitation, stop hiding behind soft bureaucratic language like “objectionable material.”

Call it what it is.

Abuse.

Evidence of harm.

A crime against a child.

New Zealand cannot have one standard for the public and another standard for powerful people.

If the law is serious, it must be serious upward as well as downward.