Hochul Applauds Meta Settlement as ‘Step in Right Direction’

EXCERPT:

HOCHUL: "Well, I would call it an important step in the right direction, Willie. But in New York State, we’ve actually gone further in many respects. I launched an initiative last year, and the year before and the year before that, to try and rein in the excesses of social media when it came to really, really destroying many of our children’s mental health. And first of all, I want to applaud all the families that stepped forward here with their stories of losing children to suicide and depression, and the young people came forward to help us get to this place. But I would say an important step, but I think there’s still going to be an important role for states and ultimately, the federal government someday, when they feel like they have time to do something other than rename lakes. I would like to see a better focus at the government level to regulate this and bring in all the platforms. In New York State, all the platforms are covered by our first in the nation rules, saying no addictive algorithms can be bombarding our young people under the age of 18, you can have no notifications at all. After midnight, our kids need to get to sleep. And what helped all of this was our, separate from the social media companies, we don’t allow cell phones in schools from the day that child walks, the second they walk in the door to the second they walk out. And that has done a lot to restore the mental health of our students in New York State. But I think it’s a good settlement, but we're not done. We're not done. This fight is not over."