New York set to ban so-called addictive social media feeds for children without parental consent

Social media is notoriously addictive, especially for young users like children and teenagers. While the US government has shown some interest in protecting our youth online, there hasn’t been much federal progress. As a result, several states have stepped up with their own laws, with New York being the latest to introduce legislation.

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul signed two new bills into law. The first, called the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, requires parental consent for “addictive feeds” in apps. Currently, most social media apps automatically suggest content through custom algorithms. Under this new law, minors will only see videos from accounts they follow, unless they have parental approval for automatic suggestions. The law also prevents platforms from sending notifications about suggested posts to minors between midnight and 6 am, unless there is verifiable parental consent. The next step is to create a system to verify a user’s age and parental consent status. Once the rules are finalized, social media companies will have 180 days to integrate the new regulations into their apps. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of $5,000 per violation.