New York lawmakers pass bill to protect youth on social media

NEW YORK New York: New York state lawmakers on Friday passed legislation to prevent social media platforms from showing “addictive” algorithmic content to users under the age of 18 without parental consent, the latest of several states taking steps to limit online risks to children. A companion bill to ban online sites from collecting and selling personal data of minor users also received final legislative approval in the New York Assembly on Friday, a day before both measures were approved by the state Senate. Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to sign both into law. She praised both measures as “a historic step in our efforts to address the youth mental health crisis and create a safer digital environment for young people.”

Meta Platform (META.O) social media companies like Facebook And Instagram Supporters of the law cited a recent Harvard University study that found the six largest social media platforms earned $11 billion in 2022 by advertising to minors. The bill’s sponsors also cited studies linking higher rates of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health problems to excessive social media use by teens. Industry association NetChoice condemned the law, calling it an “assault on free speech and the open internet” in a statement, “forcing websites to censor all content unless visitors provide ID to verify their age.” The organization said it has successfully challenged similar measures in three other states in court, calling them unconstitutional. A spokesman for the governor said the law would not censor a site’s content and said it provides for the use of one or more age-verification methods that preserve user anonymity. Meta, whose chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook, offered some support for the bill.

“While we don’t agree with every aspect of these bills, we welcome New York becoming the first state to pass legislation recognizing the App Store’s responsibility,” the company said in a statement. SAFE Under the bill, called the (Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation) for Kids Act, social media users under the age of 18 would have to get parental consent to view an “addictive” feed. This is generally defined as content that comes from accounts they do not follow or subscribe to, but is delivered by algorithms designed to keep them on the platform for as long as possible. Instead, minors on social media could get a chronological feed of content from accounts they already follow or generally popular content, similar to the way sponsors say social media feeds used to work before the advent of “addictive” algorithms. Young users can still search for specific topics of interest, connect with friends and join online groups, while non-addictive algorithms used for search functions or filtering out unwanted or pornographic content would still be allowed without parental consent. The law would apply to platforms whose feeds largely consist of user-generated content and content recommended to users based on data collected from users, according to the New York Attorney General’s bill summary. The summary lists Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube among the platforms that would likely be subject to the measure.