Attorney General James Releases Proposed Rules for SAFE for Kids Act to Restrict Addictive Social Media Features and Protect Children Online

September 15, 2025

NEW YORK - New York Attorney General Letitia James today released proposed rules on how social media companies should restrict addictive features on their platforms to protect children's mental health, as required by the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act. The SAFE for Kids Act, championed by Attorney General James, sponsored by Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, and signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul, requires social media companies to restrict algorithmically personalized feeds, or addictive feeds, and nighttime notifications for users under the age of 18 unless parental consent is granted. Addictive feeds and nighttime notifications are tied to depression, anxiety, eating and sleep disorders, and other mental health issues for children and teenagers. The proposed rules released today explain which companies must comply with the law and outline standards to determine users' age and obtain parental consent. A public comment period on the proposed rules is open for 60 days.

"Children and teenagers are struggling with high rates of anxiety and depression because of addictive features on social media platforms," said Attorney General James. "I am proud to have worked alongside Governor Hochul, Senator Gounardes, and Assemblymember Rozic to pass the nation's strongest legislation to protect children from the dangers of social media. The proposed rules released by my office today will help us tackle the youth mental health crisis and make social media safer for kids and families. This is an issue that affects all of us, and I encourage parents, educators, young people, industry groups, and others to review the proposed rules and submit a comment during the public comment period."

"I was proud to sign the nation's leading legislation targeting addictive social media feeds, the SAFE for Kids Act, that protects New York's young people from social media's damaging effects," said Governor Kathy Hochul. "We know that kids are happier and healthier when they're learning and growing, not clicking and scrolling. I thank Attorney General James and her team for their work on drafting the regulations for this critically important legislation."

"I passed the SAFE for Kids Act in 2024 for one simple reason: I refuse to raise my children in a world where Big Tech profits at their expense," said Senator Andrew Gounardes. "Big Tech spent millions last year to defeat this bill and continue trapping kids into addictive algorithms, leading to a youth mental health crisis and sky-high rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. That's why I was proud to stand alongside Governor Hochul, Attorney General James, Assemblymember Rozic, and so many others last year to force Silicon Valley to put people over profit and design a different feed experience for its youngest and most vulnerable users. I thank the Attorney General for releasing these regulations today to bring this historic law one step closer to reality, and look forward to working with her to continue pushing the frontier of kids online safety legislation."

"The SAFE for Kids law is a landmark step toward protecting kids online, and I am proud to see these strong regulations moving forward," said Assemblymember Nily Rozic. "This is a vital step in halting harmful, addictive feeds and putting kids' health ahead of corporate profits. I applaud Attorney General Letitia James and her team for their thoughtful and groundbreaking work in protecting our kids."

Algorithmically personalized feeds, or addictive feeds, recommend or personalize content for users in an endless stream based on data that the platform gathered about the user. They are a feature designed to encourage a user to continue to use and return to a platform. Content displayed in addictive feeds is often from accounts that a user does not follow and is often displayed out of chronological order.

Algorithmically personalized feeds are known to drive unhealthy levels of social media use in minors that can affect their mental health. Research shows that children as young as 10 to 14 years old experience addictive use of social media, and the more time children spend online, the more likely they are to experience negative mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and eating and sleep disorders.

The SAFE for Kids Act addresses these mental health concerns for children by requiring social media companies to restrict addictive feeds for users under 18. Instead of the default algorithmically personalized feeds that keep young people on the platform, users under 18 will be shown content only from other accounts they follow or otherwise select in a set sequence, such as chronological order unless they get parental consent for an algorithmic personalized feed. Users cannot be cut off from the platform simply because they don't want or don't have parental consent for an addictive feed. Instead, all users will still be able to access all of the same content they can access now.

The law also prohibits social media platforms from sending notifications to users under 18 from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. without parental consent.

The SAFE for Kids Act authorizes the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to promulgate rules on how companies should comply with the law before the statute goes into effect, including rules setting standards to determine a user's age and parental consent. Before drafting the proposed rules, OAG issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on August 1, 2024, and provided the public a 60-day period to submit comments. The OAG reviewed all comments that were submitted and used the public's input, industry research, and its significant experience to inform the proposed rules.

Age Assurance

• For users above the age of 18, social media companies must ascertain that the user is an adult before allowing them to access algorithmic feeds and/or nighttime notifications. Companies may confirm a user's age using a number of existing methods, as long as the methods are shown to be effective and protect users' data. Companies can use options, such as:
  • Requesting an uploaded image or video; or
  • Verifying a user's email address or phone number to cross-check other information that reflects a user's age.
• Social media companies must offer at least one other alternative method for age assurance besides providing a government-issued ID.
• Any information used to determine age or obtain parental consent must not be used for any other purpose and must be deleted or de-identified immediately after its intended use.
• Young users who turn 18 must have an option to update their age status on the platform.
• Social media companies must choose an age assurance method with a high accuracy rate, conduct annual testing, and retain the results of the testing for a minimum of 10 years.

Parental Consent

• Social media companies must first receive a minor's approval to request parental consent for algorithmic feeds and/or nighttime notifications. Once a minor approves, the platform may seek verifiable parental consent to allow a minor to access algorithmic feeds and/or nighttime notifications.
• The platform may not block the minor from generally accessing the platform or its content through, for example, searches, simply because they or their parent has refused to consent.
• The platform is not required to show parents the user's search history or topics of interest to obtain parental consent.
• Parents and minors must also have the option to withdraw their consent at any time.

These proposed rules apply to companies that display user-generated content and have users who spend at least 20 percent of their time on the platform's addictive feeds.

The full proposed rules can be found here.

"As a mother to my 16-year-old daughter, I have seen firsthand how quickly social media takes a toll on our kids' mental health," said Bernice Tsai, New York City parent. "Once my daughter started using social media at age 13, I was shocked to see how quickly it hurt her self-confidence, impacting her mood and anxiety. New York's SAFE For Kids Act will protect teens just like my daughter, shielding them from addictive feeds that are designed to keep them endlessly scrolling and exposed to posts encouraging self-harm, eating disorders, and even suicide. I'm excited to see this move forward and thank Attorney General James and the bill sponsors for their work on this effort."

"From the very beginning, NYSUT fought to make the SAFE for Kids Act law because we see every day how addictive social media features harm our students," said Melinda Person, President of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). "These proposed rules send a clear message: New York will always put children's health and safety ahead of Big Tech's profits. And we are proud to support Attorney General James as she implements this law to protect childhood and restore balance for our students and families."

"For too long, we've allowed social media companies to rake in enormous profits at the expense of our kids' mental and physical health," said James P. Steyer, Founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. "The passage of the SAFE for Kids Act, which Common Sense Media strongly supported, sent a message to social media companies that in New York, our kids' safety comes first. We thank Attorney General James for her thoughtful leadership on this important next phase of the bill, to make sure that rules of the road for the SAFE for Kids Act are clear, enforceable, and impactful, and we look forward to sharing our views with her office as this process goes forward."

"These groundbreaking rules are an important step to prevent social media platforms from exploiting our children's attention and mental health for profit," said Julie Scelfo, Founder and Executive Director of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA). "We are grateful for Attorney General James' leadership in the urgent, ongoing effort to stop unscrupulous Big Tech conduct and to keep our kids healthy and safe."

"The Ali Forney Center is thankful for the open and transparent collaboration with The Attorney General's Office," said Nadia Swanson, Director of Advocacy and Global Programs at the Ali Forney Center. "The implementation plan of the SAFE for Kids Act has ensured that LGBTQIA+ minors are able to have full access to the online communities that are vital for their identity formation, mental health and visibility - while simultaneously reducing the harm of addictive feed."

"Addictive feeds on social media are having a devastating impact on young people," said Rose Pierre-Louis, Executive Director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. "The 2024 SAFE for Kids Act and the newly announced rules by the New York Attorney General's Office set forth stringent regulations that tech companies must comply with or face penalties for violations. Many thanks to New York Attorney General Letitia James for her tireless work to make the lives of our young people safer when they are online."

"As an organization that represents more than over 30 companies that provide privacy-preserving age assurance technology through a variety of methods, we are certain that the preliminary rules issued by the New York Attorney General Letitia James establish a meaningful but flexible standard that online platforms can comfortably meet through existing age assurance technology and in an economical manner," said Iain Corby, Executive Director, The Age Verification Providers Association. "The fact is that our members successfully completed more than one billion age checks in the last year. These age determinations are secure and protect user privacy at the highest levels. We are pleased that our industry's latest innovative technology is helping to make social media safer for minors and gives reassurance to parents. We applaud the hard work of Attorney General James and her team to understand our technology and develop such well-designed rules. We look forward to more jurisdictions in the U.S. following their lead."

"C.A. Goldberg, PLLC commends Attorney General James and her team for the diligence and research that went into creating these balanced rules," said Naomi Hong and Jian Hong, Partners at C.A. Goldberg, PLLC. "For too long, social media companies have felt empowered to sideline the safety of the children they profit from. These rules rightly put onus where it belongs-on the platforms themselves."

A public comment period on the proposed rules is open for 60 days and the deadline to submit comments is December 1, 2025. The OAG seeks comment on every aspect of the proposed rules, including personal experiences, research, technology standards, and industry information, together with examples, data, and analysis in support of any comment. The OAG seeks comments from parents and other caretakers of children, young people, educators, members of academia, mental health professionals, consumer and child advocacy groups, privacy advocacy groups, industry participants, and other members of the public.

To submit a comment on the proposed rules, email [email protected].

After the public comment period closes, OAG has one year to finalize the rules. Once the final rules are released, the SAFE for Kids Act goes into effect after 180 days.

For companies that violate the SAFE for Kids Act, the law authorizes OAG to bring an action to stop violations as well as to seek civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, among other remedies.

In October 2023, Attorney General James, Governor Hochul, Senator Gounardes, and Assemblymember Rozic took action to protect children online by championing the SAFE for Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Act, which prohibits online platforms from collecting, using, sharing or selling personal data of anyone under the age of 18, unless they receive informed consent or unless doing so is strictly necessary for the purpose of the online platform. In June 2024, the SAFE for Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Act were signed into law. The Child Data Protection Act is in effect.