Jonathan Allen and Steve Gorman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York state lawmakers on Friday passed a law banning social media platforms from disclosing “addictive” algorithmic content to users under 18 without parental consent, becoming the latest of several states to take steps to curb online risks for children.
A companion bill that would prohibit online sites from collecting and selling the personal data of minor users also received final legislative approval in the New York Assembly on Friday, a day after both measures cleared the state Senate.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to sign both bills into law.
She hailed the two measures as “a historic step forward in our efforts to address the youth mental health crisis and create a safer digital environment for young people.”
Social media companies such as Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), whose platforms include Facebook and Instagram, could see their earnings take a hit.
Supporters of the law pointed to a recent Harvard University study that found the six largest social networks earned $11 billion from advertising to minors in 2022.
The bills’ sponsors also cite studies linking higher rates of depression, anxiety, sleep problems and other mental health problems to what they define as excessive social media use among teens.
Industry association NetChoice condemned the law, calling it in a statement “an attack on free speech and the open Internet” because it “forces websites to censor all content unless visitors provide identification to prove their age.”
The organization said it successfully challenged similar measures in three other states in court as unconstitutional.
A spokesman for the governor said the law would not censor the site’s content and said it would allow for the use of one or more age verification methods that preserve user anonymity.
Meta, whose chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook, has offered some support for the bill.
“While we do not agree with every aspect of these bills, we applaud New York as the first state to pass legislation recognizing app store liability,” the company said in a statement.
Under the bill, dubbed SAFE (Stop Addictive Channels Exploited to Children), social media users under the age of 18 must obtain parental consent before viewing “addictive” channels. This is generally defined as content that comes from accounts they don’t follow or follow, but is delivered through algorithms designed to keep them on the platform for as long as possible.
Instead, minors on social media can get a chronological feed of content from accounts they already follow or from generally popular content, which is how backers say social media channels worked before the advent of “habituation” algorithms.
Young users can still search for specific topics of interest, chat with friends and join online groups, while non-addictive algorithms used for search functions or filtering inappropriate or obscene content will still be allowed without parental consent.
According to the New York attorney general’s summary of the bill, the law would apply to platforms whose feeds consist primarily of user-generated content and content recommended to users based on the data it collects from them.
The summary names Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc.’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. among the platforms most likely to be affected by this measure.
A companion bill, called the New York State Children’s Privacy Act, would prohibit all online sites from collecting, using, sharing, or selling personal information from anyone under 18 unless they obtain “informed consent” or the collection and distribution of such data are not strictly necessary. site goals.
For users under 13 years of age, informed consent must come from a parent.
Violators may be subject to civil damages or fines of up to $5,000 per violation.
In March 2023, Utah became the first US state to pass laws regulating children’s access to social media, followed by others including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas and Florida.