New York Will Require Age Verification for Algorithmic Social Media Feeds

New York Attorney General Letitia James has published the final rules for enforcing the SAFE for Kids Act, which Governor Kathy Hochul signed back in June 2024. The document spells out in detail exactly what social media platforms will have to do to comply: how to determine users' ages and how to obtain parental consent for children to access restricted features. The law formally takes effect on January 25, 2027, after which each violation will cost a platform up to $5,000.

What Falls Under the Restrictions

The rules apply to platforms with user-generated content where the audience spends at least 20% of its time on algorithmic feeds. To grant adults access to such feeds — or to notifications between midnight and 6 a.m. — services will have to verify users' ages using a method that meets certain accuracy thresholds.

No specific verification method is mandated, but requirements are set: a low false-positive rate and the ability to detect attempts to circumvent the check in 98% of cases. Presenting a government-issued ID is only one option; a platform is obligated to offer at least one more. Data collected for verification must be deleted or de-identified immediately after use.

Parental Consent

Teenagers under 18 will be able to ask their parents for permission to access restricted features, but they must agree to have their parents notified. At the same time, a platform may not block a minor from the rest of the app's features that aren't age-restricted, or from searching for particular content, simply because the parents haven't given consent. Both parents and children can withdraw their consent at any time, and a platform is not required to show parents a child's search history.

The Legal Outlook

The final version differs little from the September draft. But now that the rules have been approved, opponents of the law — who warn that age verification threatens privacy and free speech — may try to block it in court. Courts have repeatedly sided with the industry, striking down similar state-level laws. However, the Supreme Court has noticeably opened the door to such requirements, upholding a Texas law that mandates age verification for access to adult websites.

Source: The Verge