The state’s new law remains stalled pending regulations and lawsuits.
New York legislator passed a widely supported social media law in 2024 that made national headlines. It was promoted as the first state law in the country designed to rein in the way social media companies interact with children. The measure received near-unanimous backing in both chambers of the Legislature and was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, who has often pointed to the law as one of her most meaningful policy victories. It prevents platforms from showing content to minors through algorithms tied to their online behavior without parental permission and stops notifications from being pushed to children during late-night hours.
Despite the bill’s swift passage and fanfare, it has yet to take effect. The attorney general’s office must finish writing regulations before enforcement can begin, and that process has stretched on for more than a year. Officials there are charged not only with drafting the rules but also with preparing to defend the law in court. Industry groups have made it clear they plan to challenge its legality once it is implemented, arguing that it infringes on free speech protections.
Trade groups such as NetChoice have already fought similar laws in states like Arkansas, California, and Florida. In those cases, judges sided with the companies, ruling that the laws violated constitutional rights. While NetChoice has not yet filed suit in New York, the group criticized the measure when it was first signed, suggesting legal action could follow. That possibility has left state officials walking a fine line: they must craft regulations strong enough to enforce the law but careful enough to withstand legal attack.
The process has proven complicated. Regulators must decide how companies will determine whether an account belongs to a child, what tools parents will have to opt their children out, and how those rules will account for issues like language access. The attorney general’s office opened a public comment window last year to gather ideas but has since worked quietly to draft the first version of the rules. Once published, they must go through another round of public input, which could add months to the timeline. Even after the regulations are finalized, the law requires a six-month waiting period before enforcement can begin, pushing the earliest implementation into spring 2026.
Tech companies have not sat idle during this period. Google, Meta, Snapchat, and Roblox all reported lobbying the attorney general’s office in 2025, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. The same companies, with the exception of Roblox, are members of NetChoice, meaning they could one day be fighting against the very regulations they tried to influence. Lobbyists argue that the attorney general’s task is nearly impossible, pointing to the difficulty of balancing age verification, parental oversight, and constitutional rights in one framework.
Supporters of the social media law, including Governor Hochul, continue to frame it as a major step for protecting children from addictive design features that dominate social platforms. At public events, she has highlighted how constant notifications, and tailored feeds can worsen youth mental health, presenting the measure as part of a broader effort to give families relief from those pressures. Lawmakers who sponsored the bill, however, have stayed largely silent as the delays have stretched on.
Industry observers expect that once New York finalizes its regulations, litigation is almost certain to follow. Courts across the country have already been asked to weigh in on whether states can restrict the way platforms operate, and the results so far suggest that the legal battle could be lengthy. Until then, parents and children in New York will not see the protections promised when the law was first celebrated in 2024.
For now, the law exists mostly as a political statement, held up by the governor as a sign of action on youth mental health but slowed by the mechanics of state rulemaking and the expectation of courtroom fights. Its true impact will not be known until the regulations are released, tested, and defended in court. Only then will New York residents see whether the first-of-its-kind law delivers the protections it promised or becomes another casualty in the ongoing tug-of-war between state governments and the tech industry.
Sources:
New York’s social media restrictions for kids nearing next step
New York Implements “Bell-to-Bell” Smartphone Restrictions in Schools
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