A bill that would forbid social media corporations from displaying so-called “addictive feeds” to children under the age of 18 without getting parental permission is about to be enacted by the state legislature of New York.
The bill will likely be signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul; her office has already issued a statement applauding its passing and that of the related New York Child Data Protection Act, which forbids online platforms from gathering or selling personal information from users under the age of 18 without their consent.
Social media companies will instead need to provide reverse-chronological feeds for child users as the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act prohibits social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram from serving content to users under the age of 18 based on recommendation algorithms.
After passing both the assembly and senate in New York, the law will now be signed by Governor Kathy Hochul. She called it “nation-leading legislation to combat addictive social media feeds and protect kids online” in a post on X (previously Twitter) on Friday, so there’s no mistake about that.
The New York Assembly claimed in a statement that social media corporations had purposefully developed risky and compulsive algorithms that encouraged frequent usage of their websites.
The Assembly stated that youngsters may have more mental health issues as a result of this extended use.
“Our children are enduring a mental health crisis, and social media is fueling the fire and profiting from the epidemic,” stated New York’s Attorney General Letitia James.
In addition to the SAFE for Kids Act, New York passed the Child Data Protection Act to forbid social media firms from gathering and exploiting personal information on users who are younger than 18.
“New York state is once again leading the nation, and I hope other states will follow suit and pass legislation to protect children and put their mental health above big tech companies’ profits,” said James.
We earlier reported that Norwegian regulators are taking decisive action to rein in cryptocurrency mining activities through the implementation of a pioneering law aimed at data centres operating within the country.
