New Legislation Would Limit Social Media Features Harmful to Youth Mental Health, Prevent Collection of Personal Data from Minors
Legislation Comes as Mental Health Issues Among Vulnerable Teens Have Doubled in Recent Years
Governor Hochul: “The Safe for Kids Act will prohibit minors from being exposed to dangerous, addictive feeds like the ones that torment our teens. And the Children's Data Privacy Act will guard children from online entities who attempt to collect their personal data… They'll give more parents tools to keep their kids safe, limit social media's outreach, and also loosen the grip that these algorithms have on the way our kids think and act.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, State Senator Andrew Gounardes, and Assemblymember Nily Rozic announced new legislation to regulate unhealthy social media usage by prohibiting minors from accessing addictive feeds without parental consent. Recent research has shown devastating mental health effects associated with children and young adults’ excessive social media use, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. Children also face unique risks when their data is collected online. The two bills, both sponsored by State Senator Gounardes and Assemblymember Rozic, will protect children by prohibiting online platforms from collecting and sharing their personal data without consent and limiting addictive features of social media platforms that are known to harm their mental health and development.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Our children are in crisis and it's up to us to save them. That is what we're here to talk about today. That is why we have incredible leaders who banded together in pursuit of doing what's right and leadership matters – Mike Mulgrew. Yes, he represents teachers. But I know he represents the children.
And I have been on this stage so many times. We've made great announcements to support our teachers, but also to continue investing in education the way the like of the state has never seen before. Mike, thank you for hosting us, thank you for your friendship, and thank you for leading this extraordinary organization. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Mulgrew.
And you'll be hearing from Tish James, who is afraid of exactly no one. That's what I love about her, that's what I love about her. So proud to have her as the state's attorney representing all the people with such heart and conviction. This is an issue she has championed a long time. And we're joined together in this because we know there'll be some headwinds. There'll be naysayers. In fact, there'll probably be people running to the courthouse in the next hour.
That's all right. You know what I say? Get in line. Also, the individuals who care so deeply about this issue that they put pen to paper or fingers to pad. Senator Gounardes, Assemblymember Nily Rozic, I want to thank both of you for caring enough about our kids to go where no man or woman has gone before in the State of New York. And it is courage at times like this when people know our priorities. So, I want to thank both of you for being the champions and sponsors of legislation that’ll be introduced. Let's give them another round of applause as well.
Speaking of courage, you're going to hear from Kathleen Spence. Why Kathleen Spence? She's an educator, but she's a mom and she's going to tell you a story about her beloved daughter who went to the brink and was brought back. I will tell you in her own words, but I know that we want to protect our children's identities and we care about them deeply. But she is out there and her daughter's out there now, so others will not fall prey to the evil forces that lurk on social media. So, thank you, Kathleen. Let's give her a round of applause as well
During the pandemic and shortly thereafter, I gathered a group of teenage girls in the Bronx to have a conversation about what life was like. And I wanted them to be very candid in telling their stories. No press in the room, no other adults, just us – just girl to girl.
And I still think about that conversation because it haunts me, to know that years after the end of the pandemic, the wounds are still there, they're deep. These girls, because of the disconnection from the norms, their classes, their teachers, their friends, the ability to go out and just hang out in gathering spaces, they are relegated to the world of the internet, social media, to do their schoolwork, but also that was their connection to friends and the rest of the world.
Now, as innocent as that sounds, it was not. They talked about how they're still struggling. These are just random girls selected to have a conversation with the Governor, telling me that they're still very anxious about things, and they're feeling sadness and depression. It just never seems to go away, what they saw and endured.
And things got so tough, some of them admitted they considered taking their own lives. Now process that for a moment. That's an age to just be young and carefree. Thinking about, I'm just a kid. I'm going to enjoy life. Got a lot of cool friends. Want to be popular. They want to wear the right clothes. Think about music. Can I get to a concert?
And these teenagers, ranging from 13, 14, and 15, put a spotlight in my mind that our kids are desperate for help. And we weathered, as adults, a public health crisis. But these kids are still experiencing the negative effects on their mental health driven by social media and the algorithms that bombarded them incessantly ultimately created, intended to create an addiction.
They talked to me about their isolation, how they felt. But the relief they got was from this constant connection on social media. Now they didn't ask for a lot of this. You understand how an algorithm works. It follows you. It preys on you. You don't ask for this content. It finds its way to you by very sophisticated ways that the social media companies have created to continue bombarding you and penetrating your mind with images and thoughts.
Now, there is darkness out there. And I don't think many adults understood how powerful and dangerous these algorithms are. They target our insecurities. And for these girls, it lifted them into depression. And questioned their own self-worth. And teenagers are vulnerable enough as it is. I've raised a couple. Thank God they're not teenagers anymore. We've been through that. But it also can take a deadly toll. And that's just not hyperbole.
We've talked about for years the rising anxiety, destructive teenage behavior. And what we did not see at the same time was technologies being developed. At the same time, these little brains are being developed too. Okay, that's what's going on. And a mountain of research today proves something that very few parents or teachers, anyone really thought about a few years ago – that social media is causing damage to countless children today.
The Surgeon General, now when do you tune in to the Surgeon General? They tell you when things are really bad for you. I remember hearing all about cigarette smoking, you see the sign on the package, you learn about alcohol, bad for pregnant women, they tell you when things are really bad. They don't wake up every day and come up with some announcements. When the Surgeon General speaks, it means something.
So, for the United States Surgeon General to say that teens who use social media more than three hours a day face double the risk of depression and its symptoms, that's based on clinical study. Now, three hours a day sounds like a lot. The average child in this country spends three and a half hours on social media. That's the average. So, what changed? What's changed? The rise of social media, of course. But to know that more than half of teenage girls are reporting persistent sadness, depression, likeliness to want to kill themselves. The data around the negative effects of social media on these young minds is irrefutable.
And knowing how dangerous these algorithms are, I will not accept that we are powerless to do anything about it. We have an obligation. My responsibility as the Governor of New York is to protect our people. It doesn't matter how young they are or what the threat to their wellbeing could be. Like I said, we prohibit cigarettes and alcohol, teenagers can't have access to them because it's a threat to their health.
I'm telling you, these algorithms are a threat to their health as well. And I mentioned my teenagers – luckily, they're grown up – but I have to wonder what kind of world is going to be out there for a little grandbaby we call Sofia. This is where my mind goes. Will we have the courage at this point in time in 2023 to take steps at least in the State of New York and stand up for our kids so the world we're passing off 10 years from now, 15 years now, to a little granddaughter today is a lot safer than it is right now, that lessons will have been learned.
But we took the corrective action. We didn't continue on that path because the status quo is always easier. And my God, who are we to stand up to these social media giants? Well, we are. That's what today's all about. And there's a cost. There's an effort. There has to be mobilization. But just think back when you were a kid. Could you have imagined the thoughts that kids are feeling today? And I want to say you probably didn't. Some yes, but not the majority. The difference is these influences. And I say, as Mike said, the time for action is now. And shame on all of us if we fail to do something about it. Talking, talking, talking is cheap. Let's do something about it. Now we can hope and wait for the social media companies to wake up one day and say, “Ah, this is not good for young people. Despite our profits and corporate interests.” You know what? This is bad for kids, and we're going to stop. We'll find a way to have controls, right?
Hoping is not a strategy. We're not going to sit here one day longer and hope that they get it. It's time to act right now. So, let me say this. We have some ideas. I think they're smart, they'll be effective. And through smart, effective laws and regulation, we can take the first steps to bringing our kids back and preventing more from falling into the abyss. If we can have some control over these sophisticated algorithms.
The legislation today, again, is a testament to what partnership looks like. Our Attorney General, she'll be out front, defending this law, but ultimately, protecting parents and their kids. The teachers, parent organizations, we will need all of you. We need everybody. We can't go this alone, because we're changing people's attitudes. And I'll be the one of the first to say there are many, many positive benefits to social media. Of course, there are. I'm not here to say there isn't. But no one took the time to study the detrimental effects on our children. We have the results, we have the data, so now it's time to shift.
Just like the movies of the 1950s, everybody was smoking a cigarette, weren't they? James Dean, everybody was cool. You're all too young. But you saw that. You saw that. It was glamorous, right? And all of a sudden, we realized, you know, maybe kids shouldn't be subjected. Maybe their lungs shouldn't have this. And we stopped. Teenage rates of smoking went down dramatically. I would say they're healthier adults. They're breathing better. And we protected them. That's exactly what we're talking about. The data's clear.
And again, I want to talk about the two bills that are being introduced today. And you'll get more detail from the sponsors, who again, I commend. I tip my hat to them. The Safe for Kids Act will prohibit minors from being exposed to dangerous, addictive feeds like the ones that torment our teens. And the Children's Data Privacy Act will guard children from online entities who attempt to collect their personal data. Think about this. Does anybody in this room think it's alright for these companies to collect personal data on your kids? Who's okay with that? Raise your hands. It's just common sense. But in some corporate boardroom, no one thought about that. There must be no parents out there because they didn't think about this.
Well, as a result, we're thinking about this. We're going to introduce these bills. Again, sponsors will introduce the bills. I sign them, Attorney General enforces them. That's what we have going on here. They'll give more parents tools to keep their kids safe, limit social media's outreach, and also loosen the grip that these algorithms have on the way our kids think and act.
And for minors, it's going to give them – these kids will have to have parental consent, parental consent for notifications overnight. Anybody have kids out there? Hear the things going off all night long? They're not getting their rest. They're not sleeping. Again, I said my kids are older. I've got nieces. I've got teenagers in my family. They look tired the next day because everybody's talking all night long. We can change that. Let's protect our kids and make sure that we do whatever we can. And we'll restrict access to apps. We'll find many, many ways to protect our children. But the details are here.
They'll explain them. I'm just here to say, “Time's up. Time's up.” We will protect our children. And I have enormous respect for technology companies that are finding their way to New York. This says the door is still wide open. Come to New York. Create jobs. We're proud that this is, we have more tech jobs in the Metropolitan New York Region than anywhere in the country. We want to continue to cement that belief that this is important for our future. We're simply asking the social media subsets within the tech companies, the social media companies to work with us, join with us, show courage yourselves because that's a better place to be than against us.
Because this is a time when we say, “Who are you standing with? Our children or your profits?” It's an easy one for the people in this room. It's an easy one for the people of New York State. So, there's an opportunity to work together. Do not challenge to recognize that things have changed. There's more knowledge and intelligence. And these will have no effect on ability to operate in New York. They'll have no restrictions on the companies themselves to do their other work. But we're focusing on our kids.
And I know many of these social media companies will be concerned about this, and I'll say this. Time to develop the guardrails. Time to make sure that we're doing the right thing. And let people know that I will respect First Amendment Rights every day of the week. We protect them here. But also, we'll protect our kids. And there's not a conflict. There's no conflict. We're not restricting free speech. No one is being banned from anything. I'm telling you all this now because when lawsuits show up, I'm going to say, “I said we're not going after free speech.”
But parents, this is the day. This is the day many have been waiting for. And finally, this shows our priorities. This shows that there's adults in the room. Adults in the room. This room and all over the State of New York who will lead by example. And we accomplished this.