3 ms·

The bill seems to be targeting certain types of social media platforms. I'm not sure everyone is at risk. What small/medium sites do you have in mind? HN doesn

by Hugsun 3y ago

The bill seems to be targeting certain types of social media platforms. I'm not sure everyone is at risk. What small/medium sites do you have in mind? HN doesn't seem to be a target for example.

redserk 3y ago
I'm not a lawyer so I'll happily accept a more thorough analysis. My quick reading of the bill leads me to think that smaller forums might actually qualify -- unless I missed a section on size of social network. This bill says: (I apologize for the incredibly bad formatting below, I've edited a few times to try to get things right) > A social media site must fufill the criteria: > ... > 2. Ten percent or more of the daily active users who are younger than 16 years of age spend on average 2 hours per day or longer on the online forum, website, or application on the days when using the online forum, website, or application during the previous 12 months or, if the online forum, website, or application did not exist during the previous 12 months, during the previous month; ...when I was in high school, I spent a filthy amount of time on online tech forums. If Hackernews were around back then, I would've likely been on it for 2+ hours just reading random links. > 3. Employs algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for users; and > > 4. Has any of the following addictive features: > a. Infinite scrolling, which means either: > (I) Continuously loading content, or content that loads as the user scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page; or > (II) Seamless content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks. > b. Push notifications or alerts sent by the online forum, website, or application to inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user's account > c. Displays personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to indicate their reaction to content or have shared or reposted the content. So... any algorithm that selects "hot/active" content based on views+interaction, upvotes or emails about people who reply to your comments. Now combine this with: > When taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. So what defines "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors"? This seems like something that might be applied on very arbitrary grounds and won't require much to trigger it. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/3/BillText/er/PDF https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/3/BillText/er/PDF
- thepasswordis 3y ago
  Neither HN, nor forums would qualify for this. Reddit would. Afaik, HN does not tailor the front page per user (log out then log back in. The FP is the same)
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - redserk 3y ago
    It doesn’t seem to specify if it needs to be tailored to a specific user or not, hence my concern about Hot/Active sorts. Though, say this is for targeting specific users, I wonder if a workaround would be to batch users into groups and cater information to generalized groups…

by Hugsun 3y ago

The bill seems to be targeting certain types of social media platforms. I'm not sure everyone is at risk. What small/medium sites do you have in mind? HN doesn't seem to be a target for example.

redserk 3y ago

I'm not a lawyer so I'll happily accept a more thorough analysis. My quick reading of the bill leads me to think that smaller forums might actually qualify -- unless I missed a section on size of social network. This bill says: (I apologize for the incredibly bad formatting below, I've edited a few times to try to get things right) > A social media site must fufill the criteria: > ... > 2. Ten percent or more of the daily active users who are younger than 16 years of age spend on average 2 hours per day or longer on the online forum, website, or application on the days when using the online forum, website, or application during the previous 12 months or, if the online forum, website, or application did not exist during the previous 12 months, during the previous month; ...when I was in high school, I spent a filthy amount of time on online tech forums. If Hackernews were around back then, I would've likely been on it for 2+ hours just reading random links. > 3. Employs algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for users; and > > 4. Has any of the following addictive features: > a. Infinite scrolling, which means either: > (I) Continuously loading content, or content that loads as the user scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page; or > (II) Seamless content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks. > b. Push notifications or alerts sent by the online forum, website, or application to inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user's account > c. Displays personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to indicate their reaction to content or have shared or reposted the content. So... any algorithm that selects "hot/active" content based on views+interaction, upvotes or emails about people who reply to your comments. Now combine this with: > When taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. So what defines "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors"? This seems like something that might be applied on very arbitrary grounds and won't require much to trigger it. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/3/BillText/er/PDF https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/3/BillText/er/PDF

thepasswordis 3y ago
Neither HN, nor forums would qualify for this. Reddit would. Afaik, HN does not tailor the front page per user (log out then log back in. The FP is the same)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- redserk 3y ago
  It doesn’t seem to specify if it needs to be tailored to a specific user or not, hence my concern about Hot/Active sorts. Though, say this is for targeting specific users, I wonder if a workaround would be to batch users into groups and cater information to generalized groups…