New Yorkers will soon need to verify their age to access algorithmic feeds

New Yorkers who want to see their Instagram or TikTok feed curated by an algorithm, or receive notifications after midnight, will soon have to verify their ages to access those features. New York Attorney General Letitia James released a set of final rules on how to implement the SAFE for Kids Act, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in June 2024. The rules lay out in more detail what social media platforms subject to the law will need to do in order to comply, including standards for understanding users’ ages and how to go about obtaining parental consent for kids to use walled-off features. The law will officially go into effect on January 25th, 2027. After that point, failing to comply could cost platforms up to $5,000 per violation. In order to provide access to algorithmic feeds, or notifications between 12AM and 6AM, to adults, social media platforms that have user-generated content and users that spend at least 20 percent of their time on algorithmic feeds will need to confirm users’ ages through a method that meets certain accuracy thresholds. The rules don’t prescribe a method of checking ages, but lay out low false positive rates they need to meet and the ability to detect attempts to circumvent age checks 98 percent of the time. Providing a government-issued ID is one way platforms could opt to check ages, but the rules also require them to give at least one other option. Information collected to check users’ ages must be immediately deleted or de-identified after it’s used. The rules also detail how parental consent to access age-gated features should work. Kids under 18 can request a parents’ permission to access features that are walled off, and they must consent to their parents being notified. But the platform cannot block minors from using non-age-gated parts of the app or specifically searching for certain content just because their parents have not consented to their use of the age-restricted features. Both parents and kids can withdraw their consent, and the platform is not obligated to show parents any information about their kids’ search history or topics to obtain consent. The final rules look largely similar to the AG’s initial proposal in September. But now that they are final, opponents who warn that age verification could impede on New Yorkers’ privacy and speech rights could seek to block it. Courts have often sided with the tech industry in blocking other state laws seeking to impose age verification, though the Supreme Court opened the door further to age verification requirements when it upheld a Texas law requiring it to access adult websites.