NY Joins Handful of States Requiring Social Media Warning Labels
New York state will require warning labels on social networks detailing their mental health risks. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) late Friday signed S-4505, which passed the legislature in June (see 2506180004).
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However, Hochul signaled in an approval memo that the legislature will pass chapter amendments to refine the law early next year. "The bill, as drafted, is broad and changes were necessary to clarify the scope of the regulated platforms, the text of the warning label and the design and display requirements of the label," she wrote. "I have reached an agreement with the Legislature to enact these changes."
The bill’s principal supporter, Common Sense Media, applauded the signing in a news release Saturday. “This new law, along with landmark kids' online safety laws enacted last year and the new statewide distraction-free learning policy, strengthens New York's leading role in the effort to make the digital lives of kids and families safer and healthier,” said CEO James Steyer.
California recently signed a similar bill into law (see 2510140010), with Minnesota preceding it earlier this year (see 2506180004). Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recommended social media warning labels last year (see 2406170059).
However, in a recent win for tech industry association NetChoice, the U.S. District Court for Colorado granted a preliminary injunction against a Colorado warning-labels law (see 2511060056).
NetChoice is disappointed to see Hochul "approve censorship labels on free speech in New York," said Amy Bos, vice president of government affairs. "As we've seen in our cases, this misguided new law ignores established constitutional protections against mandates for government-dictated warning labels on speech while substituting political mandates for the evidence-based solutions that parents and families truly need."
Also on Friday, Hochul approved an AI bill and vetoed a health data privacy bill (see 2512220061, 2512190016 and 2512220019).