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Alliance Note: We are supportive of the Governor and NYS Legislature’s goal of reducing the harms of social media on our youth and commend them for making ���������� a leader in combating these harms! Our lawmakers have reportedly reached an agreement to regulate social media companies, requiring these apps to change the way they present feeds to youth and only show content from accounts they follow. This legislation will prevent youth from seeing harmful content while allowing them to stay connected with their network of peers, which can reduce isolation for many. The Alliance will continue to support the state’s efforts to protect our youth and offer them the needed mental health services to live healthy lives. See below to read a recent post from the Mental Health Association in ���������� State’s (MHANYS) Executive Director, Glenn Liebman, on the recent legislation agreement.

How many years have we talked about the negative impact to young people of social media? Anyone who is a parent can site countless examples of the downside of social media for their loved ones.  Yet little has been done to combat the downside of social media until now.  This bill will strengthen protections against the worst aspects of social media. These companies use algorithms to attract young people to stay on their sites. They then provide all kinds of addictive ads and feeds that increase anxiety and pressure for young people. Limiting these algorithms will help diminish many of the negative aspects of social media.

We also recognize that social media can have a very positive role for mental health serving as a haven and support for young people with mental health issues. This will not be impacted by this legislation. 

The Governor is again showing that she is taking all aspects of youth mental health seriously.  It is reflected in this legislation, the youth mental health summit she held last year, the expansion of school based mental health clinics and the funding for teen and youth mental health first aid.  She deserves so much credit for putting this issue on her shoulders and leading the charge.

Attorney General Letitia James also deserves a great deal of credit as do the bill sponsors Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assembly member Nily Rozic

The bottom line is that so many young people and their families will be well served by this legislation and the impact to youth mental health will be extensive.

Listed below are two articles detailing the proposed agreement.

NY lawmakers, Hochul reach deal on bill to regulate kids’ social media use — would be first law of its kind in US
By Social Links forVaughn Golden
Published June 3, 2024, 5:24 p.m. ET

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are in general agreement on landmark legislation that would regulate social media feeds for kids, multiple sources confirmed to The Post Monday.

The bill, which has been the focus of a last minute public relations blitz by Hochul, is meant to restrict social media companies from using addictive algorithms for users under the age of 18 and prevent the big tech firms from profiting off their data.

If passed, it would be the first law of its kind in the nation.

“I think we are waiting for ‘Is and Ts,’ but I think hopefully we’ll have something out pretty soon,” Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored the bill, told The Post.

Sources close to the talks said the exact text of the legislation could be released as soon as Monday evening, which would pave the way for it to brought up for a vote before the end of the week.

The tentative deal would restrict social media companies from using algorithms to shape the content that minors see – meaning kids’ social feeds would show posts of accounts they follow in chronological order rather than how the apps would otherwise serve them up.

Social media companies use those algorithms to keep children scrolling and staring at their screens – in way that’s creating a mental health crisis among the nation’s youth, critics have claimed.

The bill would also include put a ban on apps sending alerts overnight between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. unless parents opt in. Companies would be prohibited from selling the data of people under 18 years old, sources added.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie declined to comment on the tentative deal, which he says has yet to be discussed with all members in a closed-doors conference.

“I have to talk to members,” the Bronx politician said. “When it comes to the work on something, there’s dialogue between the executive and the Assembly, you have something to go back and see that the members are OK.”

Sources close to the talks said the exact text of the legislation could be released as soon as Monday evening, which would allow it to be brought up for a vote before the end of the week.

A spokesperson for Hochul didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The governor, a mother of two adult children and a grandmother, had discussed the legislation at several events leading up to news of the deal.

“The companies are responsible for this,” Hochul said at an event with the Mental Health Association in ���������� last week. “This is driven by profit. They also know there’s negative effects on children, they don’t have to listen to the surgeon general who warned about the effects of this a year ago.”

The proposed law comes as several states are considering regulating social media companies and bracing for a likely free speech battle.

A bill similar to ����������’s passed the state Senate in California last month and could pass the state’s lower chamber before the end of its legislative session later this year.

Tech firms and social media companies have been lobbying against the effort, arguing against specifics surrounding how minors verify their age and other broad concerns about the bill.

One social media trade group, whose members include Facebook’s parent company Meta, said ����������’s bill would violate First Amendment protections even though it wouldn’t block minors from choosing which accounts to follow.

“It is less unconstitutional,” Carl Szabo, of the group NetChoice, told the Wall Street Journal of the Empire State bill. “Unfortunately, when it comes to constitutionality, close doesn’t count. You either you are or you aren’t. This legislation continues to violate free speech protections granted to ���������� citizens.”

Gounardes said part of the last-minute negotiations have included ways to make sure the bill is on firm legal ground so that a judge won’t invalidate it in court amid almost certain challenges from opponents – largely social media firms that have spent heavily lobbying against the effort.

“I think we’ve done the best we can to preempt a lot of that analysis and some of it’s out of our hands, but I think this is huge,” Gounardes added.

Social media deal reached, temporary disability benefit expected to rise

Hochul, lawmakers reach deal on social media regulation bills, Gounardes says

After the two measures didn’t make it into this year’s state budget, Hochul put them at the top of her priority list for the rest of session.

Amended versions of a pair of bills intended to regulate how social media platforms interact with children were introduced Monday night by their sponsors.

Those bills are the results of a three-way agreement between Gov. Kathy HOCHUL and the Legislature, said Sen. Andrew GOUNARDES, a Democrat who sponsors the bills.

Gounardes told reporters Tuesday morning that negotiators have spent the past few weeks fine-tuning the bills to make them as airtight as possible against an expected legal challenge from the tech industry.

“We think we’ve avoided all those issues and all those concerns,” Gounardes said. “It behooves us if we want to pass this — and make it stick and hopefully become a model for the nation — that we get it right.”

Gounardes said he doesn’t know what the vote tally will be. Republicans have expressed interest in social media regulation as well.

Hochul hasn’t independently announced the agreement yet. She was busy Tuesday flying to Washington, D.C., to attend President Joseph Biden’s immigration announcement at the White House.

Chamber of Progress, which represents a number of tech companies, said they’re still opposed to the bill and predicted it wouldn’t pass constitutional muster.

“Algorithms actually make online platforms better for teens, by boosting healthy content over hate, harm and misinformation. Those kinds of unconstitutional limits are going to have a hard time surviving a court challenge,” said Adam Kovacevich, the group’s CEO.

The amended versions of the bills have significant changes but keep the intent of the legislation intact. 

The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act has gotten more attention out of the two. 

Let’s start there:

1. The SAFE For Kids Act: S7694A

The SAFE for Kids Act would define what’s considered an “addictive feed” on an “addictive social media platform” and place limitations on how they interact with children.

“Addictive feeds” would be banned for children unless the social media company receives consent from a parent.

It would also be illegal for those companies to send children push notifications related to an “addictive feed” from midnight to 6 a.m. without parental consent.

The definition of an “addictive feed” can be found in the bill text, but it’s essentially characterized as a digital service that serves a user content based on information associated with their account or device.

A major difference in the new version of the bill is the responsibility of the state Attorney General’s Office.

The original version of the bill would have allowed parents to sue social media companies for violating the bill’s elements.

The new version removed that option but kept the ability of the Attorney General’s Office to sue social media companies for damages over violations.

The same office would also be responsible for promulgating regulations that would be used to identify how social media companies could feasibly determine if a user is a minor.

Those regulations would also take into consideration the size of some social media companies in relation to how they could reasonably afford to implement that technology.

Gounardes said conversations with the Attorney General’s Office have already included work on areas of age verification that could pay off.

“We don’t expect there to be that much of an overturning of the apple cart in terms of how we’re going to use age verification technologies,” Gounardes said.

Important: The bill has a severability clause, which means if part of the law is struck down in court the rest of it could be allowed to stand. But that’s up to the judge.

2. ���������� Child Data Protection Act: S7695B
The Child Data Protection Act is intended to prevent websites and digital services from using data collected from minors to serve them targeted content.

If a minor user clicks on photos of Taylor Swift, Gounardes said, this bill would prevent them from being bombarded with content about the artist.

“You can still collect data that is necessary for the functioning of a website,” Gounardes said. “But you cannot collect more data than necessary for a commercial purpose.”

The new version of the bill prevents websites and other services from using the data collected on a minor user for any purpose.

There are exceptions, such as if that data is required to maintain “a specific product or service requested” by a minor user.

Important: This bill also has a severability clause.

A vote hasn’t been scheduled on the bills, but they’re expected to move before lawmakers leave Albany for the year this week.