A bill is before New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, that if signed, would prohibit the use of social media platforms to collect debts, for creditors or the collection agents working on their behalf.
The bill pass both houses of the New York legislature back in June. The Assembly version, introduced by Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, is available by clicking here. The Senate version is available by clicking here.
Saying that social media is for having fun and sharing pictures ant not for harassing and attacking individuals, Bichotte Hermelyn said in a published report that there are already a multitude of ways to get in touch with consumers to try and collect on a debt.
“You call people, you can mail people, you can email, there’s no prohibition in terms of using some kind of internet access,” she said.
But, in New York, getting in touch with consumers, especially when using digital channels like email and text messaging, is not that easy countered one of the bill’s opponents.
“The harder that we make it for people to collect money that they owe, the more that cost is going to be passed on to consumers,” said State Sen. George Borrello, who voted against the bill. “Should people be harassed? Absolutely not. Should they be able to make false claims? Absolutely not. But at the same time we have to allow for the basic completion and honoring of contracts that people make.”
If enacted, the bill would add a new prohibited practice — using a social media platform as a means to collect on a consumer claim from a debtor — to the list under Section 601 of New York’s general business laws. The bill defines social media as “a public or semi-public internet-based service or application that has users in New York state that meets the following criteria:
- a substantial function of the service or application is to connect users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other within the service or application. A service or application that provides e-mail or direct messaging services shall not be considered to meet this criterion on the basis of that function alone; and
- the service or application allows individuals to: (i) construct a public or semi-public profile for purposes of signing up and using the service or application; (ii) create a list of other users with whom they share a connection within the system; and (iii) create or post content viewable or audible by other users, including, but not limited to, livestreams, on message boards, in chat rooms, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the user with content generated by other users.
