Dear Friend,

WE DID IT! 🎉

The State Senate just passed my legislation that will protect kids’ privacy and let them enjoy social media free from the unwanted content they didn’t sign up for. Thanks to the relentless advocacy of young people, parents, educators and advocates, we beat Big Tech.

I first introduced legislation to protect kids online back in 2022, because as a father of two young kids I knew we had to rein in social media. Despite the big tech companies spending $1 million to fight our bills, we got it done.

The research is irrefutable. Youth spending more than three hours a day on social media are twice as likely to experience depression and anxiety. Since the algorithm was introduced to social media platforms, we’ve seen an increase in the amount of time that teens and young adults spend on social media and significant negative mental health outcomes for minors. The algorithmic feeds have been shown to be addictive because they prioritize content that keeps users on the platform longer.

My two bills are a direct strike on their business model, which is why I knew this would be a fight. They need the algorithm to keep kids on their platform longer and longer, regardless of the impact, and then they profit off the sale of their data. Last year alone the “Big 5” social media companies profited $11 Billion just on ad sales to teens. Today New York said enough. No more profiting off of our children's mental health.

I know that these bills still face a long road to enactment, and that there is still much more for us to do to reign in Big Tech and its effects. I’m committed to continuing to work with the amazing coalition of advocates, teens and parents to make sure we keep fighting for a better future for my sons and everyone else.

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