New York State and Minnesota to Require Social Media Warnings
What to make of the new social media warnings?
New York State joins Minnesota with an in-app Social Media Health Warning.
On December 19th, New York Governor Hochul signed a law requiring social media platforms to display prominent warnings when they offer addictive features (as defined by the law) that can harm mental well-being, such as addictive feeds, autoplay, or infinite scroll.
New York was preceded by Minnesota, which enacted a similar law last summer.
In Minnesota, the warning appears when a user logs in. New York pushes it one step further: the warning will appear when the addictive feature is first used and at regular intervals thereafter.
The NY law states that social media companies that do not wish to display the warnings may opt out by removing addictive features.
Both states will define the wording of their respective warnings.
We experience warnings all the time. In many states, plastic bags come with a warning of the risk of suffocation by small children. Death by suffocation has been reduced since the warnings became effective. In this case, the warning was for parents, not children. Asking children for self-control reminds us of when cigarette smoking was the scourge of teenagers. Warnings then had a mixed effect. Particularly, dire wordings like “smoking kills” did not change behaviors as much as other types of apparently softer wordings. Implementation will probably be the key to effectiveness.
Technically, the law in New York only covers minors. It will be interesting to see if platforms decide to cover all users in that State. Many platforms have claimed it is nearly impossible for them to determine users’ ages. Will the warning in New York State apply to everyone, or will platforms find a way to assess users’ age as they do in Australia?
Expect to see the warnings when using a phone in Minnesota or New York State in mid to late 2026—time for the state to devise appropriate wording and a process for displaying the warning.
If you live in Minnesota or New York State, send us a copy of the warnings as soon as you see them!