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 New York 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 New York’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 New York’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 New York 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.
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