BROOKLYN, N.Y. (WRGB) — New York state is cracking down on addictive algorithmic social media feeds for kids.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced final regulations for New York’s SAFE for Kids Act at an event Tuesday morning at a STEAM school in Brooklyn.
Under the final rules, covered platforms cannot provide addictive algorithmic feeds to users under 18 without parental consent.
Platforms also cannot send notifications to minors from midnight to 6 a.m. without parental consent.
“Children need to sleep. Sleep is so fundamentally important and critical to a child’s growth and to their development,” James said.
Penalties could be $5,000 per violation, according to state officials.
However, James said minors would not need parental consent to use every social media function.
“Children can still connect with their friends. They can follow creators. They can search for topics. They can access the same content,” James said.
Hochul said the state’s response was shaped by conversations with parents, young people and educators.
“I go around the state, I gather parents and young people and educators and people who care deeply about our children,” Hochul said.
Platforms will have to use accurate, regularly tested and privacy-protective methods of determining users’ ages.
“Platforms can offer an alternative to a government issued ID, collect only the minimum information necessary and delete that information immediately after it is used,” James said.
Hochul said children’s and teenagers’ mental health was “in a spiral,” blaming negative messaging, bullying and social media algorithms for part of the crisis.
“But the other part was they were captive to all the negative messaging, the bullying from other students, but also the bombardment of of social media algorithms that they did not ask for,” Hochul said.
The event also included a roundtable moderated by Liz Foley, senior director of advocacy at Common Sense Media.
“Developing brains need sleep. Kids should not be getting notifications at 2 or 3 a.m.,” Foley said while praising the new regulations.
One parent, Bernice Tsai, praised the new regulations and discussed her daughter’s struggles with social media, which prompted Tsai to become involved when her daughter was about 14.
“When social media came into my daughter’s life, it quickly went from being an occasional activity where she was doing a dance on TikTok to becoming this addictive, soul sucking black hole,” Tsai said.
Tsai said her daughter became “almost like zombie like,” spending hours staring at a screen and scrolling.
“She was lonelier, she was less engaged, she was less alive as a human being,” Tsai said. “I often felt hopeless. And frankly, I often felt ashamed that I was failing her.”
Tsai said her daughter, who is now 18, felt adults were taking control and prioritizing children over technology companies.
“She was like, the adults are back, the adults are taking control. They care. They’re doing something. They are prioritizing us over the companies and what the companies want to do,” Tsai said.
The panel also heard from several students.
“I have always like personalized and I always like show my feed based on like what I want to do in my life,” said Jaden Job. “Me, myself, I always tell myself, sometimes I even get tired of my phone in general. I just throw it on my bed and like, let me go do something else.”
“It’s really stressful to like go through school and like be really like upset all the time,” said Marli Getachew, a student at The Chapin School.
Tawhidur Rahman, another student, credited strict parents with helping preserve his childhood.
“I really thank them for that because I was able to have an actual childhood,” Rahman said.
“Social media companies. You’re now on notice. The regulations are done. You have one hundred and eighty days to come into compliance,” Hochul said.
The law will take effect in January 2027.
