DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Steven Overly interviews POLITICO reporter Rebecca Kern about a new law in New York that requires parental consent for social media platforms to recommend content to users under 18 years old. The law aims to limit the potential harmful effects of addictive algorithms on children and teens, but its implementation faces challenges, including age verification and potential lawsuits from tech companies.
Kern explains that the law will not go into effect immediately, and the New York Attorney General must first establish rules for age verification. Once in effect, platforms would need to verify users' ages and either provide a chronological feed or obtain parental consent for algorithmic content recommendations. However, tech companies argue this violates First Amendment rights and plan to challenge the law in court.
While the law's intent is to protect children's online safety, Kern notes that similar laws in other states have been blocked by judges due to constitutional concerns. She suggests that lawsuits against tech companies for violating consumer protection laws or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) may be a more effective approach, although progress will likely be slow.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- A new law in New York requires parental consent for social media platforms to recommend content to users under 18 through algorithmic recommendations.
- The law faces challenges in implementation, including age verification and potential legal challenges from tech companies on First Amendment grounds.
- Similar laws in other states have been blocked by judges due to constitutional concerns.
- Lawsuits against tech companies for violating consumer protection laws or COPPA may be a more effective approach, although progress will likely be slow.
- The law aims to protect children from potentially harmful content and the addictive nature of social media algorithms.
- The tech industry argues that algorithmic content recommendations are a form of protected speech under the First Amendment.
- The debate reflects broader concerns about regulating social media platforms and their impact on children's online safety.
- The law's implementation and potential legal battles could significantly alter the way social media platforms operate and present content to younger users.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “So it won't go into effect immediately? We know that it requires the attorney general, Letitia James, to put forth rulemaking on how companies would be verifying age of users, which has been a really tough and tall task for companies to figure out to date in a privacy protective way.“ by Rebecca Kern
- “And if kids want to have the typical algorithms where it's recommended content based on your interests, they'd have to get parental consent. So it's kind of masked as another type of parental consent law, but they're calling it banning algorithms.“ by Rebecca Kern
- “Well, going up to this, they've been saying it's violative of the First Amendment because it would infringe young users access to information online when they say you can't access certain feeds, and that algorithms are a form of protected speech.“ by Rebecca Kern
- “It's not a great business model to have content that's harmful to kids.“ by Rebecca Kern
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Episode Information
POLITICO Tech
POLITICO
6/21/24