Requires online products targeted towards children provide features to protect child users including providing screen time controls, prohibiting the promotion of harmful or illegal activities, and removing features which inappropriately amplify the level of engagement a child user has with the online product.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5114
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. K. BROWN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Consumer Affairs and Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring
online products targeted towards children provide certain features to
protect child users
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new article
2 39-FFF to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 39-FFF
4 CHILD USE OF ONLINE PRODUCTS
5 Section 899-oo. Definitions.
6 899-pp. Child use of online products.
7 § 899-oo. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following
8 terms shall have the following meanings:
9 1. "Bureau" shall mean the bureau of internet and technology in the
10 office of the New York attorney general.
11 2. "Child" or "children" shall mean a consumer or consumers under
12 eighteen years of age.
13 3. "Child user" shall mean a child accessing an online product with a
14 device.
15 4. "Online product" shall mean an online service, feature, or platform
16 that is accessible to users with a digital device.
17 5. "Targeted towards child users" shall mean that the entity offering
18 an online product should know that its product is accessible to and used
19 by children. The bureau may consider such factors as the entity offering
20 an online product's internal research about such product's users, exist-
21 ing evidence of user behavior, whether advertisements featured on the
22 online product, including third-party advertisements, are likely to
23 appeal to children, the content of complaints received about the product
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08783-01-5
A. 5114 2
1 from parents, children, or other individuals that indicate the age of
2 users accessing the online product, content and design features of the
3 product such as animation, musical or audio content, the presence of
4 children or influencers popular with children, how the entity offering
5 an online product describes and promotes the product, and any other
6 characteristic the bureau deems relevant when determining how an entity
7 offering an online product should know that such online product is
8 accessible to and used by children.
9 § 899-pp. Child use of online products. 1. Requirement for certain
10 settings. (a) All entities offering an online product targeted towards
11 child users in this state shall utilize screen time limitation features
12 which allow for the parent or guardian of a child user to limit the
13 amount of time the child user is able to access the online product and
14 when the child user is able to access the online product.
15 (b) No entities offering an online product targeted towards child
16 users in this state shall utilize a method of providing content to a
17 child user which promotes harmful or illegal activity.
18 (c) The bureau shall have the discretion to ban auto-play, push
19 notifications, prompts, in-app purchases, or any other feature in an
20 online product targeted towards child users that it deems to be designed
21 to inappropriately amplify the level of engagement a child user has with
22 such product.
23 2. Penalties. (a) Whenever the attorney general shall believe from
24 evidence satisfactory to them that there is a violation of this section,
25 they may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the people of the
26 state of New York, in a court of justice having jurisdiction to issue an
27 injunction, to enjoin and restrain the continuation of such violation.
28 (b) The attorney general shall provide written notice to the entity
29 offering the online product targeted towards child users of alleged
30 violations at least ninety days before initiating any action described
31 in paragraph (a) of this subdivision. The entity offering the online
32 product targeted towards child users shall then have an opportunity to
33 cure any alleged violation of this section within such ninety days. If
34 such alleged violation has been cured, the entity offering the online
35 product targeted towards child users shall send written notice to the
36 attorney general who shall then retain discretion as to whether or not
37 to pursue an action against such entity offering the online product
38 targeted towards child users.
39 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
40 it shall have become a law and shall apply to all online products
41 targeted towards child users in this state which are made available to
42 the public or which are updated on or after such effective date. Effec-
43 tive immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rules or
44 regulations necessary for the implementation of this act on its effec-
45 tive date are authorized to be made on or before such effective date.
