Letitia James Celebrates After 'Major' Success

New York Attorney General Letitia James celebrated this week after what she called a "major" success following the passage of legislation seeking to protect children on social media.

"Today, the @NYSenate unanimously passed both bills my office worked on with @GovKathyHochul, @Sen_Gounardes, and @nily to protect our kids from the harms of social media," James wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "This is a major step to tackle the negative impacts social media has on our kids' mental health."

The remarks by James came in response to a post from New York State Democratic Senator Andrew Gounardes, who applauded the state Senate in their passage of legislation seeking to keep "kids safe online."

"I want our children—my children—to live in a world where Big Tech doesn't profit at their expense. I'm immensely proud the Senate has unanimously passed my bills to protect kids from addictive algorithms + predatory data collection," Gounardes said. "The time to create a safer internet is now."

On Thursday, the New York State Senate passed two different acts seeking to keep children safe online: the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act and the Child Data Protection Act.

The two different pieces of legislation will regulate "how social media companies use content algorithms on children and utilize their data."

"The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act will prevent social media companies from showing algorithmic feeds to minors under the age of 18 and will prohibit overnight push notifications for addictive feeds, unless they receive parental consent," the New York State Senate said in a news release.

"The Child Data Protection Act will limit the personal information that media companies can collect, sell, and use to create targetted [sic] advertisements and curate addictive algorithmic feeds."

Senator Gounardes, who sponsored the legislation, applauded the passage this week and said, "This would not have been possible without the extraordinary collaboration of Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James."

"A safer digital world is possible and we refuse to accept the cynicism that says otherwise," Gounardes said.

According to Newsday, the Chamber of Progress is representing different tech companies against the legislation in New York. In a statement this week, Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich said "New York lawmakers just put a fresh coat of paint on a rotten bill."

"Algorithms actually make online platforms better for teens, by boosting healthy content over hate, harm, and misinformation. This bill's unconstitutional limits are going to have a hard time surviving a court challenge," Kovacevich added.

Newsweek reached out to James and New York Governor Kathy Hochul via email for comment.