New York passes bill to ban addictive algorithms for child social media users

TapTechNews on June 8th, According to CNBC, on Friday local time, the New York State Assembly passed a bill banning social media platforms from providing "addictive" recommendation algorithms to child users. Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to sign this bill to make it law.

It was reported that this bill would "fundamentally" change the way children in the state use social media.

The full name of this bill is the "Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation" Bill (TapTechNews Note: Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation, abbreviated as SAFE, also meaning "safety"). It will prohibit platforms such as Instagram and TikTok from providing content to users under 18 years old according to the recommendation algorithm, and social media companies must provide "reverse curated" content for children.

This bill claims that addictive algorithm recommendations have a negative impact on children's mental health and defines "addictive push" as the behavior of giving priority to push according to information related to the user or the device they hold. According to the bill, companies found in violation will have 30 days to correct the problem or face a fine of up to $5,000 (currently about 36,277 RMB) per user under 18 years old.

The supporters of this bill include a "parents' coalition", which has expressed their protests at congressional hearings in the US Congress and outside Meta's office building because some parents' children saw "harmful content" on social media platforms and then committed suicide.

Julie Scelfo, a former New York Times reporter, said, "The national mental health status of adolescents is in an 'emergency state', and social media and its addictive algorithms are clearly a major contributor to this situation. The problem is not the social media itself, but its addictive design that uses children's emotions for profit."