New York state leads the drive against addictive phones

New York state's governor is poised to sign a bill limiting children's access to addictive feeds on their smartphones, and a trade group representing Google and Meta has already condemned the bill as dangerous and unconstitutional. The Stop Addictive Feeds (SAFE) for Kids Act requires online platforms to verify users' ages and prohibits sending notifications from addictive feeds to under-18s between midnight and 6am. "Addictive" is defined here as containing content prioritised according to information it has about the user or the user's device – as opposed to, say, chronologically. Governor Kathy Hochul says she's taking a historic step towards addressing a mental health crisis in young people. The NetChoice trade body called it an assault on free speech. For comparison, China’s children are limited to three hours’ video gaming a week and its TikTok equivalent limits under-14s’ use to 40 minutes a day.