N.Y. General Business Law § 1501: Prohibition of addictive feeds

* § 1501. Prohibition of addictive feeds. 1. It shall be unlawful for

a covered operator to provide an addictive feed to a covered user

unless:

(a) the covered operator has used commercially reasonable and

technically feasible methods to determine that the covered user is not a

covered minor; or

(b) the covered operator has obtained verifiable parental consent to

provide an addictive feed to a covered minor.

2. (a) The attorney general shall promulgate regulations identifying

commercially reasonable and technically feasible methods for covered

operators to determine if a covered user is a covered minor required

pursuant to subdivision one of this section, and any exceptions thereto.

(b) In promulgating such regulations, the attorney general shall

consider the size, financial resources, and technical capabilities of

the addictive social media platform, the costs and effectiveness of

available age determination techniques for users of the addictive social

media platform, the audience of the addictive social media platform,

prevalent practices of the industry of the covered operator, and the

impact of the age determination techniques on the covered users' safety,

utility, and experience.

(c) Such regulations shall also identify the appropriate levels of

accuracy that would be commercially reasonable and technically feasible

for covered operators to achieve in determining whether a covered user

is a covered minor. Such regulations shall set forth multiple

commercially reasonable and technically feasible methods for a covered

operator to determine if a covered user is a covered minor, including at

least one method that either does not rely solely on government issued

identification or that allows a covered user to maintain anonymity as to

the covered operator of the addictive social media platform.

(d) Where a covered operator has used commercially reasonable and

technically feasible age determination methods in compliance with such

regulations and has not determined that a covered user is a covered

minor, the covered operator shall operate under the presumption that the

covered user is not a covered minor for the purposes of this article,

unless it obtains actual knowledge that the covered user is a covered

minor.

3. Information collected for the purpose of determining a covered

user's age under paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section shall

not be used for any purpose other than age determination and shall be

deleted immediately after an attempt to determine a covered user's age,

except where necessary for compliance with any applicable provisions of

New York state or federal law or regulation.

4. The attorney general shall promulgate regulations identifying

methods of obtaining verifiable parental consent pursuant to paragraph

(b) of subdivision one of this section and section fifteen hundred two

of this article.

5. Information collected for the purpose of obtaining such verifiable

parental consent shall not be used for any purpose other than obtaining

verifiable parental consent and shall be deleted immediately after an

attempt to obtain verifiable parental consent, except where necessary

for compliance with any applicable provisions of New York state or

federal law or regulation.

6. Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring any

operator to give a parent who grants verifiable parental consent any

additional or special access to or control over the data or accounts of

their child.

7. Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing any action

taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of media that

the covered operator considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,

excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or

not such material is constitutionally protected.

* NB Effective January 25, 2027