New Legislation Would Limit Social Media Features Harmful to Teen Mental Health, Prevent Collection of Children’s Personal Data Legislation Comes as Mental Health Issues Among Vulnerable Teens Have Doubled in Recent Years
New York Attorney General Letitia James, Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Andrew Gounardes, and Assemblymember Nily Rozic announced new legislation today to help keep children safe online and prevent dangerous health consequences of addictive social media platforms. Recent research has shown devastating mental health effects associated with children and young adults’ social media use, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. The advent of dangerous, viral ‘challenges’ being promoted through social media has further endangered children and young adults. Children also face unique risks when their data is collected online. The two bills, both sponsored by State Senator Gounardes and Assemblymember Rozic, will protect children by prohibiting online platforms from collecting and sharing their personal data without consent and limiting addictive features of social media platforms that are known to harm their mental health and development.
“Social media platforms are fueling a national youth mental health crisis that is harming children’s wellbeing and safety,” said Attorney General James. “Young New Yorkers are struggling with record levels of anxiety and depression, and social media companies that use addictive features to keep minors on their platforms longer are largely to blame. This legislation will help tackle the risks of social media affecting our children and protect their privacy. I applaud Senator Gounardes and Assemblymember Rozic for sponsoring this legislation, I thank Governor Hochul for her focus on this issue, and I am proud to help advance these commonsense measures to protect the next generation of New Yorkers.”
“Our kids are in crisis, and the adults in the room need to step up. The statistics are extraordinarily disturbing: teen suicide rates are spiking, and diagnoses of anxiety and depression are surging,” said Governor Kathy Hochul. “It's critical we all stand together to address the youth mental health crisis, and I'm proud to partner with Attorney General James, Senator Gounardes, and Assemblymember Rozic to fight for our kids' future.”
“As a parent of two young children, taking legislative action to protect our children on social media is personal,” said State Senator Andrew Gounardes. “For years we’ve implemented safeguards to shield youth from major industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and personal vehicles. Social media can be just as harmful, and it's crucial that big tech companies no longer circumvent sensible regulations designed to protect their youngest users. Today is a crucial step in ensuring big tech can no longer prioritize profits over children's well-being. I am proud to partner with Governor Hochul, Attorney General James, and Assemblymember Rozic in the fight to protect the well-being of children online.”
“Today, we take a critical step towards safeguarding the online privacy of our children and young adults. The New York Child Data Protection Act will provide defenses in an era where digital platforms often overstep boundaries,” said Assemblymember Nily Rozic. “In a world where our children live much of their lives online, it's imperative that we establish clear boundaries to protect their privacy. This legislation empowers both parents and young users, giving them the assurance that their online experiences will be free from pervasive monitoring and data exploitation. We're not only protecting privacy; we're preserving the rights of children in the digital age. Thank you to Attorney General James, Governor Hochul, and Senator Gounardes for partnering with me in this crucial effort.”
Multiple studies have shown that social media can cause a wide range of negative mental health effects for children and young adults. Addictive feeds, which are designed to harness personal data to serve users content to keep them on the platform for as long as possible, have increased the addictive nature of social media platforms and heightened the risk to young users’ wellbeing. Ninety-seven percent of teenagers report being online daily, and research has found that frequent social media use among adolescents can be associated with long-term developmental harms. Multiple studies have found a link between excessive social media use, poor sleep quality, and poor mental health among young people. Other research has shown that adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety. Additionally, research has found that for young girls, the association between poor mental health and social media use is stronger than the associations between poor mental health and binge drinking, sexual assault, obesity, or hard drug use.
Children also face various risks to their privacy online. While other states and countries have enacted laws to limit the personal data that online platforms can collect from minors, no such restrictions currently exist in New York. This current deficiency leaves children vulnerable to having their location and other personal data tracked, shared, and sold online. As a consequence, that data is at greater risk of falling into the wrong hands, including human traffickers and others who might prey on young people.
The two pieces of legislation introduced today will add critical protections for children and young adults online by restricting the collection of minors’ personal data and changing how young users are served content online to reduce the harms of addictive features that keep children on social media longer.
Bill #1: Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act
This SAFE for Kids Act will require social media companies to restrict the addictive features on their platforms that most harm young users. Currently, platforms supplement the content that users view from the accounts they follow by serving them content from accounts they do not follow or subscribe to. This content is curated using algorithms that gather and display content based on a variety of factors. However, algorithmic feeds have been shown to be addictive because they prioritize content that keeps users on the platform longer. Addictive feeds are correlated with an increase in the amount of time that teens and young adults spend on social media and significant negative mental health outcomes for minors.
To address this problem, the legislation will:
- Provide users under 18 with a default chronological feed from users they already follow — the same way that social media feeds functioned before the advent of addictive feeds. Users may also search for specific topics of interest. Minors may opt in to receiving addictive feeds with parental consent.
- Allow parents to opt out of access to social media platforms for minors between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. and limit the total number of hours per day that a minor spends on platforms.
- Prohibit social media platforms from sending notifications to minors from 12AM and 6AM without verifiable parental consent.
- Authorize the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to bring an action to enjoin or seek damages or civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation. Allow any parent/guardian of a covered minor to sue for damages of up to $5,000 per user per incident, or actual damages, whichever is greater.
- Provide platforms an opportunity to cure any claim brought by the parent/guardian of a covered minor.
This legislation will only impact social media platforms with feeds comprised of user-generated content along with other material that the platform recommends to users based on data it collects from them. For example, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube would all be subject to this legislation.
Bill #2: The New York Child Data Protection Act
With few privacy protections in place for minors online, children are vulnerable to having their location and other personal data tracked and shared with third parties. To protect children’s privacy, the New York Child Data Protection Act will prohibit all online sites from collecting, using, sharing, or selling personal data of anyone under the age of 18 for the purposes of advertising, unless they receive informed consent or unless doing so is strictly necessary for the purpose of the website. For users under 13, this informed consent must come from a parent. The bill authorizes OAG to enforce the law and may enjoin, seek damages, or civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation and authorizes the parent/guardian of a minor to seek damages of up to $5,000 per user per incident, or actual damages, whichever is greater, and/or injunctive or declaratory relief. Online sites will be provided an opportunity to cure any claim brought by a parent/guardian of a minor.
“Children need our protection as they spend an ever-growing percentage of their time online and engaged in social media,” said Michael Mulgrew, President of United Federation of Teachers. “These are common sense precautions to help parents navigate their children's online experience.”
“School leaders have seen firsthand how social media can impact the wellbeing of students of all ages,” said Henry D. Rubio, President of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. “The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators applauds Governor Hochul, Attorney General James, Senator Gounardes, and Assemblymember Rozic for the SAFE For Kids Act, which will prevent social media from offering addictive feeds to any children under 18 years of age, and the NY Child Data Protection Act, which will protect their privacy. The safety of our children is paramount, and this important legislation will help parents and educators prevent online harm to their social and emotional development.”
This legislation is part of Attorney General James’ ongoing efforts to protect New Yorkers online. In July, she led a multistate coalition of attorneys general to defend the federal government’s ability to communicate with social media companies about dangerous online content. In April, she released a comprehensive guide to help businesses adopt effective data security measures to better protect New Yorkers’ personal information. She also joined a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general urging Facebook to abandon plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13. In October 2022, she investigated and released a report on the role online platforms played in the Buffalo mass shooting. She also announced a $1.9 million agreement with the owner of SHEIN and Zoetop for failing to properly handle a data breach that compromised the personal information of millions of consumers nationwide. In June 2022, Attorney General James secured $400,000 from Wegmans and required the retailer to improve data storage security after a data breach exposed consumers’ personal information.
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