As New York Finalizes New Social Media Rules, US Senate Considers Nationwide 'SCREEN' Act
New York has finalized new rules that will govern social media apps in the state starting on January 25, 2027. The law prohibits social media platforms from sending notifications to minors between midnight and 6 a.m. without parental consent. And minors "will only be shown content from other accounts they follow or otherwise select in a set sequence, such as chronological order," rather than "the…
The New York State has recently enacted new regulations concerning social media platforms, effective from January 25, 2027. These regulations prohibit notifications to minors between midnight and 6 a.m. without parental approval. Furthermore, minors will only be served content from accounts they follow or have selected in a chronological order, instead of the default personalized feeds.
Companies are mandated to provide an alternative method for age verification and to immediately delete or de-identify any information used for age confirmation.
Concurrently, the U.S. Senate is deliberating over the SCREEN Act, a comprehensive age-verification bill. This legislation requires online services to authenticate users' ages before they gain access to sexually explicit content. The SCREEN Act could affect millions of adult internet users, potentially compelling them to disclose their identities, thus threatening their privacy and security.
Unlike several state-age verification acts, the SCREEN Act does not stipulate a substantial portion of the website to contain harmful content for minors.
The SCREEN Act mandates nearly all services hosting any sexually explicit content to verify user ages, extending its reach beyond adult content platforms like PornHub or OnlyFans. It also encompasses streaming services such as Netflix, and social media platforms such as Reddit, Discord, or Bluesky, if they feature any adult content. The bill requires a "bouncer" to collect personal details and store them in a database for an unspecified duration, which could potentially compromise user privacy.
The consequences extend beyond minors. The SCREEN Act aims to ensure teenagers and adults are accurately identified. However, this could pose significant privacy and data security risks. The legislation requires services to protect the collected data and not retain it for longer than necessary, yet these safeguards are considered inadequate and do not impose strict limitations on data collection, usage, or retention.
The SCREEN Act also targets virtual private networks (VPNs). It obliges websites to verify user ages based on IP addresses unless the service can ascertain the user is outside the U.S., requiring age verification for traffic from recognized VPN addresses. This measure discourages the use of VPNs and proxy servers, which millions rely on for diverse legitimate purposes like preserving personal privacy, securing public Wi-Fi connections, protecting journalists and activists, and preventing data tracking.
The SCREEN Act imposes burdensome age-verification rules, blocking adults from accessing lawful content, limiting their anonymity, and posing threats to the data security and privacy of all internet users.
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