Influence of social media: New York wants to protect children

In the future, social media companies in New York will be required to restrict “addictive feeds” for minors. This means that children will no longer be shown such feeds – unless their parents explicitly agree.

Democratic state Senator Andrew Gounardes is one of the bill’s supporters. He defines “addictive feeds” as: “It’s an algorithmic feed based on what you’ve searched for, what you’ve clicked on, what you’ve commented on, and what’s on your profile.”

The algorithm would then show extreme content – psychologically speaking, this would lead to further scrolling. So it’s about interrupting the algorithm’s endless suggestions:

This bill will not block or censor any type of content, but it will prevent children from spending five or six hours a day on social media with no other purpose than simply scrolling through the posts.

Politician Gounardes assumes that this interruption will mean that minors are “exposed to much less harmful content from the outset”. However, users can still explicitly search for other people and topics that interest them. In addition to limiting suggestions, the law prohibits notifications to minors between midnight and six in the morning.

He is the legal director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a tech watchdog group and nonprofit organization that advocates for citizens’ concerns and provides legal advice.

The idea that we not only allow but require social media companies to engage in this kind of invasive snooping is problematic to me.

This would affect everyone, as we would have to find out who is an adult and who is not. For Siffert, this means one thing above all:

The de facto end of anonymous use of large parts of the Internet.

Senator Gounardes responds to this accusation: “Just because the program knows your age doesn’t mean it knows your name, which still leaves you anonymous. You can still have any username you want.”

In addition, the necessary parental consent is problematic. “For emancipated 16- to 17-year-olds who may be in college, who may have abusive parents, who may have homophobic parents,” says data protection expert Siffert. The draft law contains an unclear definition of social media.

Siffert fears that it will come down to two things:

Parents who just click “yes” to what will happen by and large, or the parents who get upset about the kids.

Ultimately, the “addictive” feeds will continue to be played out “and the exceptions will be abusive and homophobic parents who are upset that their children are on certain websites,” Siffert said.

His suggestion: Companies should display their content in a non-algorithmic way by default: “Chronologically. That would strengthen the bill and also not endanger children and everyone’s privacy.” That would mean a return to feeds like Instagram and Co. had for everyone in their early days.

However, New York Attorney General Letitia James sees the law as an important step. It will “make New York a national leader in addressing the youth mental health crisis and serve as an example to other states.”

Celine Schuster works in the ZDF studio in New York City.