Gov. Sherrill targets ‘big tech’ with new law aimed at kids’ social media use

“Big tech isn’t just the big tobacco of our era. They are worse. They designed platforms that highjacked our kids’ attention spans,” Sherrill said at a bill signing ceremony in Jersey City. “The typical American teen spends about 35 hours a week, almost a full-time job, on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.”

The restrictions in the New Jersey Kids Code Act would require privacy settings on minors’ social media accounts be set to their strictest mode and would limit platforms’ ability to request minors change those settings.

It would restrict platforms’ use of children’s data to the purposes for which it was collected and bar algorithmic content recommendations unless a minor specifically requests more or less content from a given account or of a specific type.

The restrictions mandate that social media platforms limit the discoverability of children’s accounts, both to adults on their own sites and through search engines.

And the law will bar social media platforms from sending notifications to minors between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on school days between Labor Day and Memorial Day and block notifications between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at all times of the year.

“Half of parents say their children’s mental health has suffered over the past year because of social media,” said bill sponsor Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-Burlington). “Nearly half of teenagers say they lose sleep every single night because they feel stuck on these platforms.”

The law permits both parents and the New Jersey attorney general to sue over violations. If they’re victorious, courts could award $5,000 per violation or treble damages — an amount equal to three times the harm suffered — whichever is greater, plus attorney fees.

They can also order punitive damages for reckless or knowing violations and injunctions to bar offending conduct.

Lawmakers on Tuesday described a social media landscape that had sold children’s mental health for engagement and shifted threats that once appeared in physical spaces to digital ones.

“When I was a kid, our parents worried about strangers and who’s talking to us at the park or at the mall,” said bill sponsor Sen. Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson). “Today, we have to worry about who’s DMing them, what algorithms are pushing into our kids’ feeds, and what sensitive information is being collected, used, even sold before they’re old enough to understand what they’re giving away.”

Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other bills Sherrill signed Tuesday order the creation of a social media research center at one of the state’s public four-year universities and direct it to begin studying the efficacy of social media warning labels and disclaimers in curbing social media addiction among children.

The state’s higher education office began accepting proposals for the center Tuesday and aims to open it sometime this fall with a $500,000 appropriation from the state’s budget.

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