New York has finalized a sweeping set of regulations restricting how social media companies can engage children online, requiring platforms to strip away algorithm-driven feeds and overnight notifications for users under 18 unless parents explicitly consent, state officials announced this week.
Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul released the final rules implementing the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act on July 27, more than two years after the law was first signed. The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, positions New York as a national leader on child online-safety regulation, with officials describing the rules as a direct response to what they characterize as a youth mental health crisis fueled by addictive platform design.
What the law actually restricts
At its core, the SAFE for Kids Act targets two specific product features that researchers have linked to compulsive use among young people: algorithmically personalized content feeds and late-night push notifications. Under the finalized rules, minors will no longer receive the default algorithmic feeds that platforms design to maximize engagement; instead, users under 18 will see content only from accounts they follow or explicitly select, displayed in a set order such as chronological sequence, unless a parent grants consent for the addictive version.
The law separately bars platforms from sending notifications tied to addictive feeds to minors between midnight and 6 a.m. without parental sign-off, a provision officials say targets a well-documented driver of sleep disruption among teenagers.
How age verification will work
Because the restrictions hinge on knowing which users are minors, the rules require companies to determine whether a user is an adult before granting access to algorithmic feeds or nighttime alerts. Platforms can use several verification methods, including uploaded photo or video submissions, facial age-estimation technology, government-issued identification, or cross-checking email and phone records against other age indicators, according to the finalized regulations.
Companies must offer at least one verification option that doesn’t require a government ID, and any method used must meet accuracy benchmarks set by the state, undergo annual testing, and have its results retained for at least five years, down from an initially proposed 10-year retention period after the attorney general’s office scaled back the requirement, according to Nexstar’s News10.
Minors seeking access to the restricted features must affirmatively request it and consent to having their parent notified, and any parent granting permission must also go through the age-assurance process. Notably, the rules bar platforms from cutting off a minor’s general access to a service, including basic search and content browsing, simply because a parent withheld consent for the addictive features, and both parents and minors retain the right to revoke consent at any time.
Who the rules apply to
The regulations are not universal. Nexstar’s News10 reported that the final rules apply only to platforms where users spend at least 20% of their active time viewing algorithmically curated feeds, measured over any six-month period, and exempt platforms with fewer than 5 million global monthly users or under 20,000 minor users.
That threshold is designed to concentrate enforcement on major platforms most associated with compulsive scrolling behavior while sparing smaller sites and niche services from compliance costs, though it also means some smaller platforms popular with teens could fall outside the law’s reach depending on usage patterns.
A companion privacy law
The SAFE for Kids Act was passed alongside a second measure, the Child Data Protection Act, which separately restricts how companies collect, use, share or sell the personal data of anyone under 18. That law bars data collection from minors 12 and under except where permitted under federal children’s privacy rules, and requires informed consent or a showing of strict necessity before collecting data from minors 13 to 17, with additional limits on using that data for targeted advertising.
Together, the two laws form what Hochul’s office has described as the nation’s most comprehensive state-level framework addressing both the design features and data practices that critics argue make social media uniquely harmful to young users.
Warning labels also coming
New York has layered on a third requirement outside the SAFE for Kids Act itself: a law signed by Hochul in January mandating that platforms display warning labels describing the mental health risks associated with addictive features such as infinite scroll and autoplay. According to New York State United Teachers, those warnings must appear when a user first accesses the app and periodically afterward, and users will not be able to click through or dismiss them without seeing the message.
Enforcement timeline and penalties
Tech companies have 180 days from the rules’ publication in the State Register on July 29 to come into compliance, putting the effective enforcement date on January 25, 2027, according to both the attorney general’s office and Nexstar reporting.
Companies that fail to comply face civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, enforceable through injunctive actions brought by the attorney general’s office. Yahoo News reported that the fine structure was designed to create meaningful financial exposure for platforms that continue directing addictive, algorithmically driven content to minors after the deadline passes.
What comes next
With the compliance clock now running, the coming months are expected to bring detailed guidance from platforms on how they plan to implement age-verification systems and feed restrictions, along with likely legal and industry pushback over the rules’ technical requirements. New York’s approach is also being closely watched by other states weighing similar legislation, making the state’s enforcement experience in early 2027 a probable bellwether for the broader national debate over regulating children’s social media use.