The Governor of New York State, Cathy Hurchul, signed a bill this week requiring social media platforms to force the release of health risk warning labels before showing young users the potential for addictions such as “automated play” “infinite rolling”.
This bill, S4505/A5346, was passed by the State Council last June. The bill defines “addictionary social media platform” as those service platforms that have “addictional information flows, push notifications, automatic play, unlimited rolling and/or acclaims as core functions”, but may be exempted if the Minister of Justice determines that the function in question “the existence of a legitimate purpose unrelated to the extended use of the platform”. According to the announcement issued by the Khozhur office, the platform is required to eject a warning when young users first come into contact with addictive functions and repeat it periodically thereafter, and the user cannot skip or close the warning. The bulletin equates such warning mechanisms with warning labels on tobacco, alcohol products and media content with flash effects. Earlier, the United States Director of Health, Vivek Murti, had publicly called last year for social media platforms to add warning signs.
“Protecting the safety of New Yorkers is my top priority since my appointment, and this includes keeping children away from the potential harm that could be caused by the social media functions that induce excessive use.” In his statement, Khochul stated. In his statement, the co-sponsor of the bill, New York State Congressman Nelly Rozik, stressed: “The family in New York has the right to know the real impact of social media platforms on mental health. This law, which is based on the latest medical research, requires that warning labels be put in place, that public health be paramount and that ultimately give us the tools to make informed decisions.” It is known that Californian legislators have recently submitted similar proposals.
Last year, the State of New York passed legislation requiring social media platforms to obtain parental consent before placing “addicted information streams” on children and collecting or selling personal data for users under the age of 18. The bill was signed as another scientific and technical regulatory initiative by Khochul before the end of the year, and recently signed the RAISE Act, which focuses on artificial intelligence security.