State AG seeks public comment on new social media regulations

State Attorney General Letitia James is ready to get underway preparing crucial regulations for new laws meant to restrict algorithmic feeds for minors and protect children’s safety online. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) For Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Acts in June. But many of the details on key aspects of the law’s enforcement, such as age verification, were left to the attorney general to enact through regulations.

James got the ball rolling on Thursday morning with two advanced notices of proposed rulemaking for the two laws. It opens up a 60-day open comment period during which her office will accept and solicit input from any and all stakeholders who may have thoughts about what the regulations should look like. “The (Office of the Attorney General) seeks the broadest participation in the rulemaking and encourages all interested parties to submit written comments,” read copies of both notices, which were shared with City & State. James’ office set up a dedicated website for such comments, as well as the email addresses ProtectNYKidsOnline@ag.ny.gov and ChildDataProtection@ag.ny.gov. Comments will be accepted until Sept. 30.

“New Yorkers are looking to this office to protect children on social media apps and online, and the rules we are drafting will do precisely that,” James said in a statement. “By offering everyone, supporters and opponents of the recently signed legislation, the opportunity to submit comments and information, my office will ensure that we can better address concerns and priorities.” The attorney general played an integral role in crafting the version of the legislation that passed, which was first introduced last October and sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Nily Rozic.

Both notices of rulemaking posed a series of questions that James is hoping New Yorkers will offer their opinions and expertise on. The notice for the addictive feeds law starts with a lengthy series of questions about “commercially reasonable and technically feasible age determination methods,” one of the most controversial issues related to the law. It cites a variety of methods available to determine internet users’ ages, including biometrics, analysis of online activity history, government ID, self attestation and cognitive tests. It poses questions for consideration about each method’s accuracy, risk of falsification and methods to ensure privacy.

The legislation had faced significant opposition from technology and social media companies that will be the subject of the laws, as well as some civil liberties groups, but proponents of the law say arguments about the difficulty of age verification are unfounded. “They know everything about us, the users on their platform,” said Raj Goyle, a New York City tech entrepreneur. “So fashioning a reasonable regulation is easily done that says if your platform is giving you indications that this person is 14 years old, for example, then don’t serve them objectionable content and don’t give them notifications. They just don’t want to do it.”

Still, some have raised concerns over privacy given the information needed to verify a user’s age or the identity of a guardian. James’ office is seeking input on that as well, citing the worries of New Yorkers “such as immigrant and LGBTQ+ users” in a question about how it can ensure that any private information used for age verification purposes is “immediately and securely deleted.”

Although New York’s law is the first of its kind in the nation, other states – as well as other countries – have similar statutes that require age verification for users of certain websites, which the attorney general’s office can draw information from. At the federal level, the U.S. Senate just passed the Kids Online Safety Act, which also aims to protect kids on social media. Dr. Gaia Bernstein, a professor of technology, privacy and policy at Seton Hall Law School, said there is “a lot of activity” in the space right now that she expects will influence New York’s rulemaking process. “I think the New York experiment is different. It’s narrowly tailored, it’s very specific and it has its advantages,” she said. “It’s important to try to experiment in different ways and to see what works… because I really think we’re running out of time.”