Tag: new york

New York state law takes aim at personalized pricing

Posted on by faz_business


New York’s latest state budget includes new disclosure requirements for businesses that use personal data to set different prices for different shoppers — for example, charging you more if you have a history of splurging.

Businesses that use personalized pricing are now required to tell customers, “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data,” according to The New York Times.

It’s not clear how widespread this practice actually is among online retailers. An Uber spokesperson told the NYT that the company is now showing this disclosure to New Yorkers, although they described the law as “poorly drafted and ambiguous” and insisted that Uber only uses geography and customer demand to calculate its dynamic pricing.

The National Retail Federation filed a lawsuit to stop the law, but a federal judge allowed it to move forward.

Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission and now co-chair of the mayoral transition team for Zohran Mamdani, told the NYT that the law will be an “absolutely vital” tool for the government, but she also suggested there’s a “ton more work to be done” to regulate the practice.

New York is about to give parents more control over their kids’ social media feeds

Posted on by faz_business


New York is poised to pass a law that will bar social media platforms from showing algorithmic feeds to teens without parental consent. The Wall Street Journal that lawmakers in the state have reached a “tentative agreement” on a bill that will be voted on later this week.

State officials, including Governor Kathy Hochul, introduced a bill requiring parental consent for algorithmic feeds The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act doesn’t restrict the type of content teens can view on social media apps, but they wouldn’t be able to view algorithmic feeds without permission from their parents or guardians. The latest version of the bill will also block teens from seeing in-app notifications overnight without parental consent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

If passed into law, New York would become the latest state to attempt to rein in social media platforms’ access to teens with requirements. Utah a law last year requiring social media apps to get parental consent, though the measure was later . Lawmakers in California have also limiting teens’ access to algorithmic feeds.