Laws & Statutes › NY › NY-A-06974
A-06974
NY · State · USA
NY
USA
● Pending
New York Assembly Bill 6974 — An Act to amend the general business law, in relation to enacting the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for all act
The SAFE for All Act requires operators of addictive social media platforms to provide users with mechanisms to turn off algorithmic recommendations, turn off notifications related to addictive feeds (with at minimum nighttime quiet-hours controls), disable autoplay, and set daily time limits on platform access. The bill prohibits dark patterns that subvert user choice or make it more difficult to exercise these controls or manage accounts. Enforcement is exclusively through the New York Attorney General, who may seek civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement, and damages. The effective date is 180 days after the Attorney General promulgates implementing rules and regulations.
Passage Likelihood
Low
Chamber No passage
Committee No action
Majority party Yes
Bipartisan No
Prior session None
Legislative History
2025-03-18 committee referral referred to consumer affairs and protection
2026-01-07 committee referral referred to consumer affairs and protection
Mapped Requirements
CP-01 Deceptive & Manipulative AI Conduct
Official Sources
Full Text ↗
Entry Last Reviewed
2026-04-01
AI generated
Summary

The SAFE for All Act requires operators of addictive social media platforms to provide users with mechanisms to turn off algorithmic recommendations, turn off notifications related to addictive feeds (with at minimum nighttime quiet-hours controls), disable autoplay, and set daily time limits on platform access. The bill prohibits dark patterns that subvert user choice or make it more difficult to exercise these controls or manage accounts. Enforcement is exclusively through the New York Attorney General, who may seek civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement, and damages. The effective date is 180 days after the Attorney General promulgates implementing rules and regulations.

Enforcement & Penalties
Enforcement Authority
Enforced exclusively by the New York Attorney General, who may bring actions upon complaint or otherwise. The Attorney General must maintain a public website to receive complaints, information, and referrals from the public concerning compliance or noncompliance. No private right of action is created.
Penalties
Civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation. The Attorney General may also obtain injunctive relief (including preliminary relief), restitution of moneys or property obtained by the violation, disgorgement of profits or gains obtained by the violation, damages caused by the violation, and any other relief the court deems proper.
Who Is Covered
"Operator" shall mean any person, business, or other legal entity, who operates or provides an addictive social media platform.
What Is Covered
"Addictive social media platform" shall mean a website, online service, online application, or mobile application, that offers or provides users with addictive feeds as a significant part of the provision of such website, online service, online application, or mobile application.
Compliance Obligations 7 obligations · click obligation ID to open requirement page
CP-01 Deceptive & Manipulative AI Conduct · CP-01.2 · Deployer · Social Media
GBL § 1510(1)-(4)
Plain Language
Operators of addictive social media platforms must provide all users with four mandatory user-facing controls: (1) a toggle to turn off algorithmic recommendations entirely; (2) a toggle to turn off notifications related to the addictive feed, with at minimum the ability to silence notifications entirely or between midnight and 6 AM Eastern; (3) a toggle to turn off autoplay; and (4) a hard time-limit tool that actually restricts access after the user's chosen daily duration — a mere time-spent reminder does not suffice. These controls must be offered as a precondition to lawfully providing the platform to users in New York. The definition of algorithmic recommendation includes extensive carve-outs for user-initiated subscriptions, search results, direct messages, sequential content, and privacy/accessibility settings.
Statutory Text
It shall be unlawful for an operator to provide an addictive social media platform to a user in this state unless such platform offers mechanisms through which a user may: 1. Turn off algorithmic recommendations; 2. Turn off notifications concerning an addictive feed, provided further that such mechanism shall, at a minimum, provide the user with the ability to turn off notifications overall or to turn off notifications between the hours of 12 AM Eastern and 6 AM Eastern; 3. Turn off autoplay on such platform; and 4. Limit such user's access to such platform to any length of day specified by such user, provided further that any mechanism which solely reminds such user of time spent on a platform rather than allowing such user to limit such user's access shall not be in compliance with this subdivision.
CP-01 Deceptive & Manipulative AI Conduct · CP-01.3 · Deployer · Social Media
GBL § 1511(1)
Plain Language
The user controls required by § 1510 must be presented clearly and accessibly. Operators may not use dark patterns — any mechanism or design that intentionally undermines the purpose of the act, subverts user choice or autonomy, or makes it harder for users to exercise their rights to disable algorithmic recommendations, notifications, autoplay, or time limits. This includes misleading defaults, hidden settings, confusing UI flows, or any design that frustrates the user's ability to activate the required controls.
Statutory Text
The settings required in section fifteen hundred ten of this article shall be presented in a clear and accessible manner on an addictive social media platform. It shall be unlawful for such platform to deploy any mechanism or design which intentionally inhibits the purpose of this article, subverts user choice or autonomy, or makes it more difficult for a user to exercise their rights under any of the prescribed settings in section fifteen hundred ten of this article.
CP-01 Deceptive & Manipulative AI Conduct · CP-01.3 · Deployer · Social Media
GBL § 1511(2)
Plain Language
Operators may not use dark patterns or deceptive design to make it harder for users to deactivate, reactivate, suspend, or cancel their account or profile. This is an independent prohibition from the § 1511(1) dark-pattern ban — it applies to account management actions generally, not just to the § 1510 required settings. The 'intentionally' qualifier means the operator must have designed the mechanism with the purpose of making account management more difficult.
Statutory Text
It shall be unlawful for an addictive social media platform to deploy any mechanism or design which intentionally serves to make it more difficult for a user to deactivate, reactivate, suspend, or cancel such user's account or profile.
Other · Social Media
GBL § 1512
Plain Language
This is a savings clause clarifying that the SAFE for All Act does not override, supplant, or conflict with the existing SAFE for Kids Act (GBL Article 45). Operators subject to both statutes must comply with both independently. This creates no new compliance obligation.
Statutory Text
Nothing in this article shall be construed or interpreted to override, supplant, or conflict with any of the provisions of the SAFE for kids act contained in article forty-five of this chapter.
Other · Social Media
GBL § 1514
Plain Language
The Attorney General is directed to promulgate implementing rules and regulations. The act's effective date is 180 days after these rules are promulgated. This provision delegates rulemaking authority but creates no direct compliance obligation on operators.
Statutory Text
The attorney general shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate and enforce the provisions of this article.
Other · Social Media
GBL § 1515(1)
Plain Language
This provision establishes the Attorney General's enforcement authority and available remedies, including injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement, damages, and civil penalties up to $5,000 per violation. It creates no new compliance obligation — it describes the consequences for violating the act's substantive provisions.
Statutory Text
On or after the effective date of this article, whenever it appears to the attorney general, upon complaint or otherwise, that any person, within or outside the state, has violated the provisions of this article, the attorney general may bring an action or special proceeding in the name and on behalf of the people of the state of New York to enjoin any such violation, to obtain restitution of any moneys or property obtained directly or indirectly by any such violation, to obtain disgorgement of any profits or gains obtained directly or indirectly by any such violation, to obtain damages caused directly or indirectly by any such violation, to obtain civil penalties of up to five thousand dollars per violation, and to obtain any such other and further relief as the court may deem proper, including preliminary relief.
Other · Government · Social Media
GBL § 1515(2)
Plain Language
The Attorney General must maintain a public-facing website to receive complaints and referrals about operator compliance. This obligation falls on the AG, not on operators, and creates no compliance obligation for covered entities.
Statutory Text
The attorney general shall maintain a website to receive complaints, information, and/or referrals from members of the public concerning an operator's or addictive social media platform's alleged compliance or noncompliance with the provisions of this article.