{
  "id": 36816,
  "title": "As New York Finalizes New Social Media Rules, US Senate Considers Nationwide 'SCREEN' Act",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/02/as-new-york-finalizes-new-social-media-rules-us-senate-considers",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-02T07:34:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Slashdot",
    "slug": "slashdot",
    "url": "https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/08/02/0552255/as-new-york-finalizes-new-social-media-rules-us-senate-considers-nationwide-screen-act"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.\n\nConcurrently, 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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.",
  "summary": "The New York State government has finalized new rules for social media apps, effective January 25, 2027, which prohibit notifications to minors between midnight and 6 a.m. without parental consent and restrict content shown to minors to only that from accounts they follow or select in a set sequence. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is considering the SCREEN Act, a sweeping age-verification bill that would require online services to verify users' ages before they access sexually explicit content, potentially forcing millions of adult users to give up anonymity, privacy, and security. The SCREEN Act applies to various services, including streaming platforms like Netflix and social media sites like Reddit, Discord, or Bluesky, if they host any adult content, creating a privacy and data security nightmare with weak protections for the collected data. Additionally, the bill targets VPN users and providers, discouraging their use for legitimate purposes such as protecting personal privacy and preventing data tracking.",
  "key_points": [
    "New York's social media rules take effect Jan 25, 2027, restricting minors' midnight-6 AM",
    "SCREEN Act under Senate consideration, mandating age verification for sexually explicit content",
    "Privacy and security risks from data collection requirements, affecting millions of adult internet"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": "https://urgent.news/ill/36816.png",
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}