New Jersey adopts ‘toughest in the nation’ law for kids online safety
⚠️ New Jersey's new Kids Code Act requires the highest default privacy settings for minors.
➡️ Three bills signed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill target online safety and children's mental health.
🔴 A new research center will study how digital technology affects children's well-being.
JERSEY CITY — New Jersey has adopted a measure that’s billed as the strongest kids' online safety law in the country.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a trio of bills into law on Tuesday, joined by legislators, advocates and a gym full of kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County in Jersey City.
Among the laws is the “New Jersey Kids Code Act,” which prioritizes kids’ mental health and requires the highest default privacy settings for minors.
NJ lawmakers target Big Tech's algorithms
The measure’s prime sponsor Assemblywoman Andrea Katz said three out of the top four social media platforms use AI to recommend kids’ profiles to strangers.
“Parents should not have to compete with multi-million-dollar algorithms to protect their own children and yet that’s exactly what’s been happening,” Katz said.
If companies do not follow the new protocols in New Jersey, they are vulnerable to lawsuits, according to Sherrill.
The Burlington County Democrat joined Sherrill back in March, to promote the landmark measure at a similar press conference held at Cherokee High School in Marlton.
There, the governor outlined her Kids’ Online Safety Agenda, which entailed all three bills signed on Tuesday.
Read More: What NJ's new school smartphone law means for students
New research center will study kids and technology
The other two laws signed create the state’s first-ever social media research center. It will be based at one of the state’s four-year public colleges or universities, and will study the link between digital technology and children’s well-being.
A request for proposals to establish the research center opened on Tuesday, as launched by the state Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.
The deadline for applications was Sept. 11, with a goal of beginning its work this coming fall.
Sherrill said two years ago while she was still a Congresswoman, lobbyists for Big Tech got the House to kill a federal bill on kids’ online safety that had easily sailed through the U.S. Senate.
She said these laws ensure that New Jersey is helping lead the way on keeping kids safe while online.
Sherrill and Katz were also joined at the podium by Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, state Senator Raj Mukherji and 18-year-old Middlesex County resident Saahir Vazirani, an incoming freshman at Princeton University.
Vazirani is also a member of the youth-led coalition, Design It For Us, which aims to hold Big Tech accountable for its policies on young social media users.
https://designitforus.org/
“Our children shouldn't be forced to choose between growing up in an online world and growing up healthy, and these laws will make sure that they don't have to,” Coughlin said in a joint written statement.
“By signing this Age-Appropriate Design Code, Governor Sherrill is shifting the burden of mitigating online harms back toward the platforms themselves, ensuring that young people can continue to build safe connections without being exploited,” Vazirani said in the same release.
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