Woodhull & Decrim NY Submit Comments to New York State’s AG Office Raising Privacy and Freedom of Expression Concerns in the Implementation of SAFE for Kids Act
Earlier this year New York state passed the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act. The bill proposes to prohibit social media companies from providing children with access to addictive feeds without parental consent. Similar to other attempts at curbing potential harms to children from social media use, this bill relies on a flawed approach that threatens children and adult’s freedom of expression and privacy.
Woodhull has closely tracked the proliferation of bills that claim to be about protecting children online but have proven to be not only ineffective but frequently infringe on the rights of young people and adults. Bills similar to the one passed in New York have even been blocked on grounds that they violate social media users’ constitutional rights. This is particularly true for age verification bills, which require users to provide proof of being over 18 before accessing certain websites, including social media. In July, a judge blocked such a bill in Mississippi over concerns that the legislation was not tailored narrowly enough to meet its goals of safeguarding children online without interfering with adults’ and minors’ access to protected speech.
As the Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG) is now soliciting comments on the SAFE for Kids Act as part of their Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking procedures, Woodhull and Decrim NY prepared comments to urge caution in the implementation of this new law. A critical concern is the unequal effects laws like these have on community members, with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth at heightened risk for censorship. This type of legislation also ignores the growing research on the benefits of social media among LGBTQ+ youth who rely on it for building community and finding accurate sexual and reproductive health information, which they may be denied at school or from healthcare providers.
We encourage New York State Attorney General Letitia James and her office to consider the comments of privacy and freedom of expression advocates while developing this law.