The party was founded in January 2014 with the financial support and promotion of internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, and was first led by former Alliance MP Laila Harré, then by citizen journalist Suzie Dawson.

[2][3] The party was deregistered by the New Zealand Electoral Commission in June 2018 after its membership dropped below the 500 required for registration.

[6][7] He intended to hold a launch party on 20 January, two years after the raid on his house and the day before his 40th birthday.

[13] To select its first leader, the party ran an Idol-style candidate search and appointed Laila Harré, a former Alliance MP and cabinet minister.

[15] The Internet Party and Mana Movement contested the 2014 general election as a single entity.

[20] On election night, Harawira lost Te Tai Tokerau, receiving 8,969 electorate votes to Davis's 9,712.

Dotcom said to reporters on election night that "I take full responsibility for this loss tonight, because the brand—the brand Kim Dotcom—was poison for what we were trying to achieve.

[24] In December 2016, Kim Dotcom posted a poll on Twitter asking if his followers wanted the Internet Party to stand in the 2017 election.

[3] In a tweet of April 2018, Suzie Dawson said that she was no longer eligible to run for Parliament as she had lived outside New Zealand for more than three years, and so was resigning as party leader.