New York City kids’ social media feeds will become less “addictive” from now on.
State lawmakers in Albany passed a landmark bill on Friday that would give parents more control over their children’s social media use on apps like TikTok and Instagram.
While the law is almost certain to face lengthy legal challenges from major tech companies, it could ultimately have a nationwide impact on how social media apps deliver content to children.
“Our children are enduring a mental health crisis and social media is adding fuel to the fire and profiting from this epidemic,” New York Attorney General James, who sponsored the two bills, said in a statement.
“New York State is once again leading the nation,” she said, “and we hope other states will follow suit and pass legislation that protects children and puts their mental health above the profits of big tech companies.”
The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Children Act (SAFE Act) would require social media companies to verify users’ ages and get parental consent before allowing children to access algorithmic feeds.
Another bill, the New York State Children’s Data Protection Act, would ban tech companies from selling or profiting from the data of minors.
Gov. Kathy Hawkle is expected to sign both bills into law.
Big tech companies spent about $1 million lobbying to block the bill.
Julie Samuels, president and CEO of Tech:NYC, a group lobbying against the bill, praised the bill’s intent to protect children, but noted there is still a lot of uncertainty about how it will be enforced.
“These bills contain several positive changes that move us closer to achieving lawmakers’ intent to protect children online, a goal that Tech:NYC and our member companies support. These changes better align the definition of social media and demonstrate our intent to remove the civil right of action,” she said in a statement after the vote.
“But neither the platforms affected by these bills nor the lawmakers who will vote on them have a clear view of how age verification should work.”
