By Jonathan Allen and Steve Gorman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lawmakers in New York state on Friday passed legislation banning social media platforms from exposing “addictive” algorithmic content to users under 18 without parental consent. This makes them the last of a number of states that want to limit online risks for children.
A companion bill to ban online sites from collecting and selling personal information of underage users also received final approval in the New York Assembly on Friday, a day after both measures cleared the Senate.
Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to sign both into law.
She called the two measures a “historic step forward in our efforts to tackle the youth mental health crisis and create a safer digital environment for young people.”
Social media companies like Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), whose platforms include Facebook and Instagram, could take a hit to their revenues.
Supporters of the legislation pointed to a recent Harvard University study that found the six largest social media platforms would generate $11 billion from advertising to minors in 2022.
The bills’ sponsors also cite studies linking higher rates of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health problems and what they define as excessive social media use by adolescents.
Industry association NetChoice condemned the legislation, calling it in a statement an “attack on freedom of expression and the open internet” by “forcing websites to censor all content unless visitors provide ID to verify their age.”
The organization said it had successfully challenged similar measures by three other states in court as unconstitutional.
A spokesperson 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 maintain a user’s anonymity.
Meta, whose chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook, offered some support for the bill.
“While we do not agree with every aspect of these bills, we welcome New York becoming the first state to pass legislation recognizing the responsibility of app stores,” the company said in a statement.
Under the bill, called the SAFE (Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation) for Kids Act, social media users under the age of 18 would be required to obtain parental permission to view “addictive” feeds. This is generally defined as content that comes from accounts they don’t follow or subscribe to, but is delivered by algorithms designed to keep them on a platform for as long as possible.
Instead, minors on social media can receive a chronological feed of content from accounts they already follow or from broadly popular content, the way sponsors say social media feeds worked before the advent of “addictive” algorithms.
Young users can still search for specific topics, connect with friends and join online groups, while non-addictive algorithms used for search functions or filtering unwanted or obscene content are still allowed without parental consent.
Under a bill from New York’s attorney general, the legislation would apply to platforms whose feeds consist largely of user-generated content and material recommended to users based on the data it collects from them.
The summary named Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc’s YouTube as platforms likely to be subject to the measure.
The companion bill, called the New York Child Data Protection Act, would ban all online sites from collecting, using, sharing or selling personal information from anyone under the age of 18 unless they obtain “informed consent,” or unless the collection and sharing of such data is strictly necessary. to the purpose of the site.
For users under the age of 13, informed consent would be required 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.
