The governor of the state of New York, Democrat Kathy Hochul, signed this Thursday the draft Child Safety Law, an initiative that seeks to regulate social media algorithms in order to protect minors from ” danger” from “powerful forces beyond their own control.
The rule requires social media companies to restrict the “flow of addictive content” for minors, as well as prohibiting notifications related to new content on the platforms between midnight and 6:00 a.m. without the consent of minors. parents, according to the American press.
Hochul had previously offered an interview for the American news network CBS in which he warned that children “are in danger” due to the influence they receive from “algorithms that are intentionally addictive” and are designed to “attract and keep your attention.”
Thus, the New York governor has stressed that this measure points directly to the algorithms of social networks in order to “free” minors and directly attack “the source of the trauma that is being inflicted on them.”
For their part, a group of technology companies has joined together to protest against a measure that, they consider, violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which deals with freedom of expression.
Specifically, from Meta – parent company of Facebook and other platforms – they have conveyed to the aforementioned chain their rejection of the new law, although they have advocated requiring parental approval for the download of certain mobile phone applications.
The legislation will take effect six months after State Attorney Letitia James outlines the exact rules and guidelines. Failure to comply with the law could result in fines of up to 5,000 euros (just over 4,600 euros).
