Google and Meta are waging a fierce campaign to eliminate New York legislation aimed at protecting children online — and the contentious lobbying battle is poised to top $1 million in spending, the Post has learned.
A group of big tech companies, advocacy groups and businesses in other sectors spent $823,235 lobbying lawmakers in Albany through mid-March on two high-profile bills : the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act and the New York Children’s Privacy Act. – move towards votes, according to recent public revelations.
“It’s an astonishing amount of money to spend to kill two reasonable bills,” said a longtime Albany insider who requested anonymity to discuss the lobbying campaign.
The SAFE Act would crack down on addictive recommendation algorithms used by social media apps by requiring them to provide timeline feeds by default to users 18 or younger unless they obtain parental consent. It would also allow parents to impose time limits on social media use and in-app notifications.
The Children’s Data Protection Act would prevent apps from collecting or selling the personal or location data of users under 18 unless they consent. Children under 13 would need parental consent.
The disclosure forms show each company’s total spending on legislation on the agenda in New York – including online safety bills – and do not reveal their positions on specific bills.
The true scale of Big Tech’s spending to derail the legislation is difficult, if not impossible, to pin down – but it is expected to surpass the $1 million mark in the next round of disclosures next month, sources said.
“This could be considered ‘historic’ in the sense that the bills have relatively little impact for the state compared to other issues that get a lot of attention from lobbyists,” said Danny Weiss, a veteran of Capitol Hill and Advocacy Manager at Common Sense Media. , which supports the bills.
The cannabis industry has spent millions of dollars over several years trying to legalize marijuana in New York. In 2022, a group of landlords and their advocates reportedly spent $1.4 million to lobby against the adoption of new tenant protections.
“They are spending a lot of money opposing these bills, as if they pose an existential threat to New York,” Weiss said of the Big Tech blitz.
Both bills were approved last fall by New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul as well as state Attorney General Letitia James. At a press conference in January, Hochul described social media as “a silent killer of our children’s generation.”
Both bills are expected to go to the state Assembly committee as early as this week, which would be followed by a floor vote. The state Senate is also expected to vote on the bills in the near future.
More than 25 other groups, including Mothers Against Media Addiction and the New York State United Teachers Union, have also expressed support for the bills.
Tech companies have fought back, fearing the legislation would stifle free speech, teens’ online privacy, limit internet access for migrants and other underserved communities, and essentially disable algorithms which help suppress hate speech.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a co-sponsor of the bill, said his opponents funded an aggressive “whisper campaign” in Albany to delay or reject the legislation.
“It certainly makes it much more difficult, because these companies, with unlimited resources, can hire armies of lobbyists who camp out all day in the capital,” Gounardes said. “Legislators come and go and these people are whispering in everyone’s ear.”
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — which already faces a massive federal lawsuit over allegations it profited even as its apps fuel a teen mental health crisis — spent the most on lobbying related to technology bills and other state agenda items, disclosures. watch.
A Meta spokesperson said the company supports federal legislation that would require app stores to get parental approval when children under 16 download apps, rather than a state-by-state solution.
“Teens move interchangeably between many websites and apps, and different laws in different states mean that teens and their parents will have inconsistent online experiences,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
“As we continue to work with New York lawmakers, it is crucial that we avoid quick fixes and instead support legislation that truly empowers parents and supports teens online,” the spokesperson added. word.
Other big spenders include Google and TikTok – the latter of which filed a federal lawsuit to block a divestment bill that would sever its ties to Chinese ownership over national security concerns.
Despite strong opposition, the bill appears to be moving toward approval. The SAFE Act has 94 sponsors in the State Assembly, including 81 Democrats and 13 Republicans. In the state Senate, it has 25 sponsors, including 21 Democrats and four Republicans.
Gounardes said there is “significant bipartisan support for both bills in the Senate.”
“At this point, I am reasonably confident that we will be able to do something significant for kids on social media during this legislative session,” the state senator said.
Additionally, tech giants that have disclosed lobbying activities on one or both bills include PayPal, Roblox, Snap, and Block.
A Roblox spokesperson said the company supports the intent of both bills, but declined to provide further details. A representative for eBay, another company in the filings, said the company had not yet taken a position on either bill.
A spokesperson for Block confirmed that the company had lobbied for the Children’s Data Protection Act and said it supported the bill with some modifications.
Other main opponents lobbying against the bills include influential business groups such as Tech:NYC and TechNet.
In a February memo seen by The Post, Tech:NYC claimed the two bills had “inconsistent” age verification policies and argued that common methods used for verification, such as scanning of an ID or credit card, would fuel data privacy concerns.
“We continue to have productive discussions with legislators and community groups about these bills because we all want to find a path forward that protects families, preserves the ability to access useful and useful information online, without reorganizing much of our economy,” said Julie Samuels, president and CEO of Tech:NYC.
Participants in the public relations campaign to defeat the bills also include traditional lobbying firms as well as so-called “astroturf” groups, which present themselves as grassroots initiatives but are actually funded by big money. technologies, according to critics.
One such example is a group called the New York Inclusive Internet Coalition, which is supported by Tech:NYC and shares the same spokesperson.
A spokesperson for Tech:NYC pushed back against claims that the company was leading an offensive on astroturf, saying that working with local community groups was central to its mission.
Another key proxy is Chamber of Progress, a big tech-funded advocacy group that advances the industry’s agenda at the national and state levels.
New York Post
