New York’s social media warning labels are due to take effect Jan. 1, 2027. On Friday, Nov. 13, the trade group NetChoice asked a federal court in Manhattan to block the law, arguing that the state cannot force platforms to display its message about the risks of excessive social media use.
The complaint filed in the Southern District of New York names New York Attorney General Letitia James as the defendant in her official capacity. It asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional and prevent its enforcement. The filing itself leaves the Jan. 1 date in place. The publicly indexed docket listed the initial filings Saturday. It did not show an order blocking the law.
What New York users would see
The display rules require a warning the first time on a calendar day that someone accesses a covered service and receives a feature regulated by the law. That warning must cover at least a quarter of the screen or window and stay visible for at least 10 seconds. A user cannot dismiss it early.
The second warning would come after three hours of active use that day. After that, the service must display it at least once for every additional hour of active use. Those warnings would cover at least three-quarters of the screen and stay up for at least 30 seconds. The time threshold is cumulative, so separate sessions can count toward the three hours.
The statute prescribes the message. It refers to a U.S. surgeon general warning that excessive use may be associated with serious mental health harms, while acknowledging possible benefits for some young users. The first warning and the longer warnings use the same prescribed message.
Which people and platforms are covered
The law applies to users in New York, and it exempts platforms from showing the warning to someone they have reasonably determined is 18 or older. That exemption can leave adults in New York who have not established their age seeing a warning. A person physically outside New York falls outside the statute’s geographic scope even if they use the same platform.
The law’s definitions cover services that make an addictive feed, autoplay or infinite scroll a significant part of what they provide. The law defines autoplay as content playing on its own and infinite scroll as a page loading more content as a person scrolls. The complaint identifies services including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube as ones NetChoice believes the law covers. That list is the plaintiff’s reading of the statute.
What the courts have decided elsewhere
NetChoice argues that the mandated wording and pauses amount to compelled speech under the First Amendment. It also argues that some of the definitions are too vague for companies to know whether they are covered. New York’s February amendment records lawmakers’ rationale for the warning requirement, citing concerns about the effects of compulsive social media use. James’s office declined immediate comment when asked about the lawsuit, Reuters reported.
In November 2025, a federal judge in Colorado temporarily blocked that state’s warning provision. The judge found that NetChoice was likely to succeed on its First Amendment claim. That preliminary order applied to Colorado’s law. New York’s case asks a different court to decide what happens under New York’s own rules.
New York also has a separate SAFE for Kids Act. The attorney general’s office says those rules take effect Jan. 25, 2027. They address access to certain feeds for minors and overnight notifications without parental consent. The Nov. 13 complaint challenges the warning-label law that is scheduled to start Jan. 1.
