New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed a bill that would allow parents to block their children from getting social media posts suggested by a platform’s algorithm, a move to limit feeds critics argue are addictive.
Under the legislation, feeds on apps like TikTok and Instagram would be limited for people under age 18 to posts from accounts they follow, rather than content suggested by an automated algorithm. It would also block platforms from sending minors notifications on suggested posts between midnight and 6 a.m.
Both provisions could be turned off if a minor gets what the bill defines as “verifiable parental consent.”
The law does not take effect immediately. State Attorney General Letitia James is now tasked with crafting rules to determine mechanisms for verifying a user’s age and parental consent. After the rules are finalized, social media companies will have 180 days to implement the regulations.
“We can protect our kids. We can tell the companies that you are not allowed to do this, you don’t have a right to do this, that parents should have say over their children’s lives and their health, not you,” Hochul, a Democrat, said at a bill signing ceremony in Manhattan.
The signing is the first step in what is expected to be a drawn out process of rule making, and a probable lawsuit from social media companies to block the law.
NetChoice, a tech industry trade group that includes X and Meta, has criticized the legislation as unconstitutional.
“This is an assault on free speech and the open Internet by the State of New York,” Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of NetChoice, said in a statement. “New York has created a way for the government to track what sites people visit and their online activity by forcing websites to censor all content unless visitors provide an ID to verify their age.”
Most of the biggest social media platforms send users a steady stream of suggested videos, photographs and other content, using a computer to try and predict what will keep users entertained and engaged for as long as possible. The algorithms use a variety of factors to curate that content, including what a user has clicked on before and interests of other people with similar preferences.
The bill marks the latest attempt by a state to regulate social media as part of concerns over how children interact with the platforms.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week announced plans to work with the Legislature on a bill to restrict smartphone usage for students during the school day, though he didn’t provide exact details on what the proposal would include. Newsom in 2019 signed a bill allowing school districts to limit or ban smartphones while at school.
There hasn’t been broad legislation on the subject at the federal level but it is a common point of discussion in Washington. This week the US surgeon general called on Congress to put warning labels on social media platforms similar to those on cigarettes, citing mental health dangers for children using the sites.
Some tech companies, with pressure mounting, have decided to set up parental controls on their platforms. Last year, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, created tools that allowed parents to set time limits on the apps for children.
The New York legislation, debuted last October, had faced major pushback in the Legislature from the tech industry.
“Social media platforms manipulate what our children see online to keep them on the platforms as long as possible,” said James, a Democrat who pushed for the bill. “The more time young people spend on social media, the more they are at risk of developing serious mental health concerns.”
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New York moves to limit ‘addictive’ social media feeds for kids
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New York moves to limit ‘addictive’ social media feeds for kids
- The bill marks the latest attempt by a state to regulate social media as part of concerns over how children interact with the platforms
DR Congo city residents forced to adapt during year of M23 rule
- Around one million Goma residents were holed up in their homes on Jan. 26, 2025, when the Congolese army and its allies were forced to pull out of the provincial capital
GOMA, DR Congo: They were caught under a barrage of fire and became trapped with “nowhere to go” after their city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fell under the M23 armed group’s control a year ago.
Around one million Goma residents were holed up in their homes on January 26, 2025, when the Congolese army and its allies were forced to pull out of the provincial capital.
Hundreds of Rwandan soldiers had just poured across the border to fight alongside the M23 in a lightning offensive to seize the lakeside city.
Thousands of people were killed in the intense clashes.
Janvier Kamundu, whose name has been changed for security reasons, was sheltering from the fighting at home with his wife and children.
“Suddenly I heard my wife cry out. She fell, hit by a stray bullet,” he recalled.
Neighbors braved the gunfire to come and help, and a vehicle was found to transport his wife to hospital, ultimately saving her life.
Hospitals were overwhelmed with the wounded and bodies covered in white bags piled up at the morgues.
“She is slowly recovering, but it isn’t easy — she has a lot of wounds around her stomach,” Kamundu said.
Oppressive quiet
A year on, Goma residents endure “constant oppression” by the M23 group, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said.
In the weeks that followed its capture, the streets emptied out at nightfall and the buzz evaporated from the bars that had once offered some respite in a region scarred by three decades of conflict.
Escaped prisoners, militia fighters and soldiers who had evaded capture roamed the city after dark, breaking into homes and threatening residents.
With the police and court system no longer functioning, the M23 eventually began to systematically cordon off neighborhoods in search of criminals.
By late May, several hundred men were sitting on the dark volcanic gravel covering the streets of Murambi village on Goma’s northern outskirts, watched over by members of the M23.
Local leaders and families are ordered to identify those they recognize as upstanding citizens. The others are detained.
Rough justice
But on the street, anyone deemed suspicious looking drew the M23’s ire.
People spoke of those who had been hauled off to the city sports stadium serving as an open-air prison for wearing dirty clothes or having an untidy beard.
An M23 spokesman invited reporters on several occasions to view the results of the operation — detainees separated into categories.
Desperate families crowded at the entrance, pleading to get their relatives released.
Those not cleared by testimony deemed reliable ended up at secret detention sites. NGO reports denounced torture and summary executions.
But, in time, residents and observers agreed that Goma’s streets were returning to relative safety.
With no independent justice system in place, opponents of the M23 faced repression, some accused of being in cahoots with the pro-government militia.
In October, the armed group — whose declared aim is to overthrow the government and end corruption — began appointing magistrates, but observers indicated there was little impartiality.
Despite parallel peace efforts backed by the United States and Qatar, the M23 launched a new offensive on the strategic town of Uvira near the Burundi border in December.
“These events have shown that the Rwandan president is not at all comfortable with peace processes,” Muyaya, the government spokesman, said.
‘Ideological training’
Most civil society representatives and rights campaigners had fled Goma before the M23 entered.
Civilians and former government combatants were forcibly recruited by the M23, which announced it had 7,000 new members in its ranks in September.
At the same time, the group began to impose taxes to finance its war effort but the city, already on its knees, has had no functioning banks for a year after the government ordered their closure to cut off the rebellion’s funding.
The airport remains inaccessible and trade between Goma and areas under government control has dwindled.
Civil servants were among the first to feel the blow of such cuts.
“There were about 200 agents here; around 20 left to work” in government-held areas, urban planning officer Claude Mumbere said.
“The others are here doing nothing,” added the officer, whose name has also been modified for security reasons.
Some had to undergo “ideological training” provided by the M23.
Mother-of-three Madeleine Mubuto’s husband lost his job.
“We had set aside a small amount of money at home that helped us at first, but after a year almost all of it is used up,” she said.
In the absence of cash, Rwanda’s currency is now used at Goma’s markets.
“Many are wondering how long this situation is going to last,” Kamundu said, adding: “We adapt because we have nowhere to go.”
Around one million Goma residents were holed up in their homes on January 26, 2025, when the Congolese army and its allies were forced to pull out of the provincial capital.
Hundreds of Rwandan soldiers had just poured across the border to fight alongside the M23 in a lightning offensive to seize the lakeside city.
Thousands of people were killed in the intense clashes.
Janvier Kamundu, whose name has been changed for security reasons, was sheltering from the fighting at home with his wife and children.
“Suddenly I heard my wife cry out. She fell, hit by a stray bullet,” he recalled.
Neighbors braved the gunfire to come and help, and a vehicle was found to transport his wife to hospital, ultimately saving her life.
Hospitals were overwhelmed with the wounded and bodies covered in white bags piled up at the morgues.
“She is slowly recovering, but it isn’t easy — she has a lot of wounds around her stomach,” Kamundu said.
Oppressive quiet
A year on, Goma residents endure “constant oppression” by the M23 group, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said.
In the weeks that followed its capture, the streets emptied out at nightfall and the buzz evaporated from the bars that had once offered some respite in a region scarred by three decades of conflict.
Escaped prisoners, militia fighters and soldiers who had evaded capture roamed the city after dark, breaking into homes and threatening residents.
With the police and court system no longer functioning, the M23 eventually began to systematically cordon off neighborhoods in search of criminals.
By late May, several hundred men were sitting on the dark volcanic gravel covering the streets of Murambi village on Goma’s northern outskirts, watched over by members of the M23.
Local leaders and families are ordered to identify those they recognize as upstanding citizens. The others are detained.
Rough justice
But on the street, anyone deemed suspicious looking drew the M23’s ire.
People spoke of those who had been hauled off to the city sports stadium serving as an open-air prison for wearing dirty clothes or having an untidy beard.
An M23 spokesman invited reporters on several occasions to view the results of the operation — detainees separated into categories.
Desperate families crowded at the entrance, pleading to get their relatives released.
Those not cleared by testimony deemed reliable ended up at secret detention sites. NGO reports denounced torture and summary executions.
But, in time, residents and observers agreed that Goma’s streets were returning to relative safety.
With no independent justice system in place, opponents of the M23 faced repression, some accused of being in cahoots with the pro-government militia.
In October, the armed group — whose declared aim is to overthrow the government and end corruption — began appointing magistrates, but observers indicated there was little impartiality.
Despite parallel peace efforts backed by the United States and Qatar, the M23 launched a new offensive on the strategic town of Uvira near the Burundi border in December.
“These events have shown that the Rwandan president is not at all comfortable with peace processes,” Muyaya, the government spokesman, said.
‘Ideological training’
Most civil society representatives and rights campaigners had fled Goma before the M23 entered.
Civilians and former government combatants were forcibly recruited by the M23, which announced it had 7,000 new members in its ranks in September.
At the same time, the group began to impose taxes to finance its war effort but the city, already on its knees, has had no functioning banks for a year after the government ordered their closure to cut off the rebellion’s funding.
The airport remains inaccessible and trade between Goma and areas under government control has dwindled.
Civil servants were among the first to feel the blow of such cuts.
“There were about 200 agents here; around 20 left to work” in government-held areas, urban planning officer Claude Mumbere said.
“The others are here doing nothing,” added the officer, whose name has also been modified for security reasons.
Some had to undergo “ideological training” provided by the M23.
Mother-of-three Madeleine Mubuto’s husband lost his job.
“We had set aside a small amount of money at home that helped us at first, but after a year almost all of it is used up,” she said.
In the absence of cash, Rwanda’s currency is now used at Goma’s markets.
“Many are wondering how long this situation is going to last,” Kamundu said, adding: “We adapt because we have nowhere to go.”
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