New York Introduces Legislation to Safeguard Children’s Mental Health on Social Media

New York state leaders, including Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, have unveiled two significant bills aimed at enhancing the protection of children’s mental health online. These bills propose changes to the way children are served content on social media platforms and seek to limit companies’ use of their data.

Governor Hochul, expressing deep concern for the well-being of children, likened social media algorithms to the addictive nature of cigarettes and alcohol. Citing irrefutable data on the negative impact of social media on young minds, she emphasized the importance of addressing this issue.

The first of the proposed bills, named the “Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act,” targets the harmful and addictive features of social media for children. Under this act, users under the age of 18 and their parents would have the option to opt out of algorithm-driven content feeds. Instead, they would receive chronological feeds, reminiscent of the early days of social media.

Additionally, the bill allows users and parents who opt for algorithmically generated content feeds to set restrictions. They can block access to social media platforms between 12 am and 6 am or limit the total number of hours a minor can spend on a platform.

Attorney General Letitia James highlighted the alarming rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues among children and teens, largely attributed to their use of social media. The bill takes direct aim at major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube, where user-generated content is mixed with material suggested based on personal data.

The second piece of legislation, the “New York Child Data Protection Act,” seeks to safeguard children’s data privacy online. It prohibits online platforms from collecting, using, sharing, or selling the personal data of individuals under the age of 18 for advertising purposes without informed consent. For users under the age of 13, this consent must come from a parent or guardian.

Both bills grant the attorney general the authority to take legal action against violations, with civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation. Parents or guardians of minors would also have the right to sue for damages of up to $5,000 per user incident or for actual damages, whichever is greater.

These legislative efforts in New York are part of a growing wave of similar bills across the country aimed at protecting young users by imposing stricter regulations on social media platforms. Several states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Utah, have passed bills requiring tech platforms to obtain parental consent before creating accounts for teens. At the federal level, lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban children under the age of 13 from using social media altogether.

The announcement in New York also underscored the risks to children’s privacy online, such as the potential exposure of their location and personal data to malicious actors.

In conclusion, these proposed bills reflect a growing awareness of the need to safeguard children’s mental health and privacy in the digital age. They signify a significant step toward balancing the benefits of social media with the potential risks it poses to young minds.