Attorney General Letitia James outlines new rules designed to protect youth from addictive social feeds

ALBANY — New York on Monday proposed rules for how it will enforce a ban on social media companies from sending addictive, algorithm-based feeds to young people to keep them online, devouring content — from platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office was assigned to outline the new rules, unveiled a set of proposals designed to enforce parental consent, age assurance and other requirements for social media interaction. The requirements were included in the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act, which the State Legislature approved and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law in June.

"Children and teenagers are struggling with high rates of anxiety and depression because of addictive features on social media platforms," James said in a statement Monday. "The proposed rules ... will help us tackle the youth mental health crisis and make social media safer for kids and families."

The rules, by law, must go out for public comment, which runs until Dec. 1. The comments will be reviewed and the rules finalized — but won’t go into effect until 180 days after the finalization, meaning summer or fall of 2026.

Earlier this year, New York became the first state to enact a law to prohibit social media companies from offering addictive, algorithm-based feeds to people under 18 without parental consent.

Lawmakers said the law would limit the potential damaging effects of addictive social media.

"This is a vital step in halting harmful, addictive feeds and putting kids’ health ahead of corporate profits," Assemb. Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) said in a statement.

The rules proposed by the attorney general include:

• Companies must first ask a minor for permission to obtain parental consent to send feeds and nighttime notifications, then obtain parental consent.
• For those 18 years old and beyond, companies must ascertain the user actually is of adult age.
• Verification of parental consent and "age assurance" may be obtained by asking the user to upload an image (such as a driver’s license) or video; or using emails or addresses to cross-check with other information to verify age. Companies must offer at least one method other than a government-issued ID.
• Parents can withdraw consent at any time.
• Companies cannot block a minor from generally accessing its site or content through searches, even if parental consent hasn’t been given. Also the platform isn’t required to show parents the minor’s search history or interest topics to obtain parental consent.

Officials from James’ office said these are similar to other age assurance tools used by dating apps, gambling websites and others.

Tech companies and others fought against the bill during the 2025 state legislative session. They had raised questions about age verification and the constitutionality of the law.

Tech:NYC, a nonprofit industry group that has been lobbying on behalf of its members such as Google, criticized the bill in the past but didn't comment immediately Monday.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy