New York parents soon could gain control over their kids’ social media scrolls.
A first-in-the-nation proposal that bars companies like Instagram and TikTok from bombarding children with “addictive” algorithm-based feeds is poised to pass in Albany — and would reshape how users under 18 consume online content.
The legislation aims to curtail the harmful effects of social media that the US surgeon general and others have warned are growing mental health problems among perpetually-online young people.
One piece of the proposal requires companies to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent to give kids access to algorithmic feeds, while another bill bans tech firms from selling or otherwise profiting off of minor’s data.
“I think a lot of folks right and left are concerned by Big Tech’s overreach and they’re concerned by what’s happening to young people and they’re concerned by how there’s had been a failure on the federal government to step in here,” Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored the bill, told The Post.
The agreement on the new legislation, reported by The Post Monday, came after 11th-hour push by Gov. Kathy Hochul and is almost certain to face a brutal legal battle in the courts with social media companies that have been cool on the plan.
But, assuming the challenges fail, parents can expect to gain more power over their kids’ social media habits.
One proposed bill — the “Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act” — will:
- Prohibit social media companies from feeding algorithmic-based “addictive” social media feeds to kids without parental consent. Kids without parental consent would still be able to access content fed to them by social media companies, such as a chronological timeline of posts.
- Give parents the ability to pause notifications on their kids’ social media accounts between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m.
- Require social media companies to verify users’ age in a way that doesn’t rely on a government ID.
How age verification will work up to New York Attorney General Letitia James, but must be “commercially reasonable and technically feasible” on social media platforms as well as considering for their “size, financial resources, and technical capabilities,” according to the legislation.
James will also be given the ability to sue social media companies that don’t comply with the threat with cash damages.
“They’re a big part of making this law succeed,” Gounardes said of James.
