Subject:
Call on your lawmakers to strengthen child online safety and protect kids from predators.
Message:
Dear Legislator:
As a constituent who cares deeply about protecting our children, I urge you to pass the Stop Online Predators Act, S.4609-A (Gounardes)/A.6549-A (Rozic), to require online platforms to implement mandatory default safety measures that protect minors from online predators.
New York has become a national leader in protecting children from the harms of social media. We have restricted addictive algorithms through the SAFE for Kids Act, limited data collection on minors through the Child Data Protection Act, enacted bell-to-bell cellphone policies and required warning labels on social media platforms. But there is still a glaring gap: Online predators can still reach children directly through messaging and chat features.
The Stop Online Predators Act would close this gap by implementing critical safety measures. Under this legislation, minors' accounts would be set to the highest privacy settings by default, rather than leaving it to children or parents to navigate complex settings. Unknown adults would be blocked from contacting minors directly, and open chat functions would be disabled by default. Additionally, purchases and money transfers would require parental approval, protecting children from financial exploitation. The Attorney General would enforce the law, imposing penalties of $5,000 for each violation.
Previous legislation addressed addictive features and data privacy. The Stop Online Predators Act focuses on direct threats to children's physical safety. It is the next critical step in our efforts to create a safer online environment for New York's children.
I respectfully ask that you bring up this issue with your conference and advocate for the passage of the Stop Online Predators Act this legislative session.
Sincerely,
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