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New York Mandates Non-Bypassable Mental Health Warnings on ‘Addictive’ Social Media Features

The law treats design tools like infinite scroll as public-health risks, granting the state attorney general power to seek fines for noncompliance.

Overview

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul signed S4505/A5346, requiring platforms to show warnings tied to features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, algorithmic feeds, like counts and push notifications.
  • Labels must appear when users first encounter these features and resurface periodically, and users cannot dismiss or bypass them.
  • The New York attorney general can bring civil actions with penalties of up to $5,000 per violation against companies that fail to comply.
  • The statute applies to conduct occurring partly or wholly within New York and does not cover users physically outside the state.
  • Implementation details, including exact label design and timelines, have not been disclosed, and major platforms have not issued formal responses as New York joins other jurisdictions taking similar steps.