Notes from the Asia-Pacific region: 2026 survey finds children's data, AI continue to top NZ privacy concerns

During Privacy Week, New Zealand's Office of the Privacy Commissioner released its 2026 consumer survey. Some interesting themes and trends are emerging, as compared to the 2025 survey. Public concern about privacy in New Zealand is no longer confined to traditional issues such as spam or identity theft. Instead, concern increasingly centers on the broader social effects of data-driven technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, facial recognition, children's privacy and large-scale information sharing.

A striking feature of the 2026 survey is not necessarily the emergence of entirely new concerns, but the apparent entrenchment of concerns first identified in 2025. The top three issues remained unchanged year-on-year: children's privacy and social media use, AI-assisted decision-making and the handling of personal information by social media companies. Concern about each issue also increased: from 67 to 71% regarding children's privacy, 62 to 67% on concerns about AI decision-making and 63 to 65% about social media companies' personal data handling practices.

That trend arguably matters more than any single percentage increase. It suggests these concerns are becoming structurally embedded in public attitudes rather than reflecting temporary media cycles or isolated controversies. Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster framed these issues as "firmly mainstream concerns, rather than niche ones." 

The surveys also point to an overwhelming demand for control. In 2025, 82% of respondents said they wanted more control and choice over how their personal information is collected and used, while in 2026, 82% said they want more say in how their personal information is collected and used. Slightly different framing, but a clear signal this issue has not diminished. Instead, public expectations appear to be shifting from passive acceptance of data collection toward demands for transparency, choice, accountability and meaningful governance. 

AI appears to sit at the center of this shift. The increase in concern about AI-assisted decision-making is particularly notable given that New Zealand still lacks any comprehensive AI-specific privacy or automated decision-making framework — though that may change, with the Law Commission set to undertake a review of legal issues related to the use of automated decision-making by government. The survey results indicate growing public discomfort with the gap between technological capability and regulatory oversight.

Another notable, though unsurprising, development in the results of 2026 was the sharp increase in concern about health information security, which rose by 10%. The privacy commissioner linked this to recent high profile health sector privacy breaches. That result reinforces a recurring lesson for privacy professionals, that public trust is highly sensitive to visible failures. Privacy maturity is therefore not merely a compliance issue but increasingly a reputational and social license issue.

Perhaps the most concerning result for regulators and policymakers is the apparent decline in confidence in legal protections. In 2026, only 18% of respondents said they were "very" or "extremely" confident that New Zealand law adequately protects personal information. In 2025, there was strong support for greater enforcement powers for the privacy commissioner, and this support continued in 2026. Overall, the trend clearly shows public demand for more robust legal privacy safeguards to mitigate growing privacy and technology concerns.

Taken together, the surveys suggest a public that is becoming more privacy-aware, more skeptical and less willing to assume organizations will manage personal information responsibly without strong governance and visible safeguards. 

For privacy professionals, that may reinforce the need to focus not only on legal compliance, but also on transparency, explainability, AI governance and organizational trustworthiness more broadly. These are not new concepts, but they appear to be coming into sharper focus.