NEW YORK, June 7 (Reuters) - New York state lawmakers on

Friday passed legislation to bar social media platforms from

exposing "addictive" algorithmic content to users under age 18

without parental consent, becoming the latest of several states

moving to limit online risks to children.

A companion bill to restrict online sites from collecting

and selling the personal data of underage users also gained

final legislative approval in the New York Assembly on Friday, a

day after both measures cleared the state Senate.

Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to sign both into law.

She hailed the two measures as a "historic step forward in

our efforts to address the youth mental health crisis and create

a safer digital environment for young people."

Social media companies such as Meta Platforms ( META ),

whose platforms include Facebook and Instagram, could take a hit

to their revenues.

Supporters of the legislation pointed to a recent Harvard

University study that found the six largest social media

platforms generated $11 billion from advertising to minors in

2022.

The bills' sponsors also cite studies linking higher rates

of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health

woes to what they define as excessive social media use by

adolescents.

The industry association NetChoice condemned the

legislation, calling it in a statement an "assault on free

speech and the open internet" by "forcing websites to censor all

content unless visitors provide an ID to verify their age."

The organization said it had successfully challenged

similar measures from three other states in court as

unconstitutional.

A spokesperson for the governor said the law would not

censor a site's content and said it provides for using one or

more age-verification methods that retains a user's anonymity.

Meta, whose chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg co-founded

Facebook, offered some support for the bill.

"While we don't agree with every aspect of these bills, we

welcome New York becoming the first state to pass legislation

recognizing the responsibility of app stores," the company said

in a statement.

Under the bill dubbed the SAFE (Stop Addictive Feeds

Exploitation) for Kids Act, social media users under 18 must

obtain parental consent to view "addictive" feeds. This is

generally defined as content that comes from accounts they do

not follow or subscribe to but is delivered by algorithms

designed to keep them on a platform for as long as possible.

Instead, minors on social media may receive a chronological

feed of content from accounts they already follow or from

generally popular content, the way sponsors say social media

feeds worked before the advent of "addictive" algorithms.

Young users can still search for specific topics of

interest, connect with friends and join online groups, while

non-addictive algorithms used for search functions or filtering

unwanted or obscene content would still be permitted without a

parent's consent.

According to a bill summary from the New York attorney

general, the legislation would apply to platforms whose feeds

consist largely of user-generated content and material

recommended to users based on the data it collects from them.

The summary named Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and

Alphabet Inc's YouTube as among platforms that would

likely be subject to the measure.

The companion bill, called the New York Child Data

Protection Act, would bar all online sites from collecting,

using, sharing or selling personal data of anyone under 18

unless they receive "informed consent," or unless collecting and

sharing such data is strictly necessary to the site's purpose.

For users under the age of 13, informed consent would have

to come from a parent.

Violators could be subject to civil damages or penalties of

up to $5,000 per violation.

In March 2023, Utah became the first U.S. state to adopt

laws regulating children's access to social media, followed by

others, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas and Florida.