Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - This week, State Attorney General Letitia James released the proposed rules that would support the state's law that bans social media from using personalized algorithm feeds for minors without parental consent.
New York's Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) For Kids Act was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul last year. Under the new rules, social media platforms must show people under 18-years-old only chronological feeds, and ban notifications from 12 a.m.-to-6 a.m.
To verify age, companies must include, at least, one alternative to uploading a government ID. That could include uploading a face scan that estimates a user's age, or a phone number to check against other information.
The new proposed rules lay the groundwork for the law to be fully implemented, and kick off a 60-day public comment period. After that, the Attorney General has up to a year to finalize the rules, after which the law would go into effect 180 days later.
This step comes as there is increased attention on the role social media has played in the extreme political violence we've seen over the past year.
"All of our children are now being subjected to horrific violence every day online," said Congressman Tim Kennedy (D, NY-26), who was a co-sponsor of the SAFE For Kids Act when he was a State Senator.
Kennedy says he would be open to proposing something similar on a federal level.
"There has to be accountability with these social media companies," he noted. "We have to work carefully to put guardrails in place to make sure that our children aren't being polluted and taken over by the cesspool of the Internet."