Kathy Hochul said Monday that she will back some of the strictest online privacy protections for children in the country, unveiling a proposal that would automatically block strangers from viewing, tagging, or messaging minors on gaming and social media platforms.

The measures, which Hochul plans to include in her State of the State address on Jan. 13, come amid growing concern over reports of children being groomed and exploited on platforms such as Roblox and Discord.

“I will not rest until I know our students are safe, healthy and happy,” Hochul said at an event near Buffalo held at Hamburg High School, her alma mater. Emphasizing her role as the first New York governor who is also a mother, she warned that predators and scammers are increasingly using chat features embedded in children’s favorite games. “We have to act, and we have to demand better safeguards,” she said.

Under the proposal, parents would need to give explicit approval to override restrictions on minors interacting with unknown users. The plan would also expand age-verification requirements to online gaming platforms and require children under 13 to receive parental consent before accepting friend requests.

The legislation would further limit minors’ interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots, following tragedies such as the suicide of a Florida teenager who reportedly formed an emotional relationship with a chatbot. Hochul has increasingly focused on artificial intelligence regulation as part of her broader child-safety agenda.

Financial protections are also central to the plan. Hochul proposed monthly spending caps to prevent children from, as she put it, “gambling their parents’ money on virtual junk.” Additional restrictions would target digital gifts on platforms like Roblox, where investigators and families say predators have lured children with in-game currency before coercing them into sharing explicit content.

Roblox, which reports roughly 50 million daily active users under the age of 14, is facing dozens of lawsuits nationwide. Nearly 80 cases were consolidated into a single federal case in San Francisco last December, accusing the platform of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation. Many of those lawsuits also name Discord and Snapchat, where plaintiffs say abusive conversations continued after initial contact.

Eric Porterfield, a Roblox representative, said the company plans to require facial age checks for U.S. users and restrict chat features between users with large age gaps. Similar systems are already used in countries such as Australia. Representatives for Meta, Discord, and Snap did not respond to requests for comment.

Hochul’s proposal builds on a record of aggressive online-safety legislation. During her tenure, New York has passed laws regulating social media algorithms targeting children, advanced restrictions on artificial intelligence, and banned cellphone use in schools. As she seeks re-election in November, Hochul is positioning child safety as a cornerstone of her agenda.

The plan has backing from state lawmakers, including Andrew Gounardes, who said inconsistent standards across platforms leave children vulnerable. “A conversation on Roblox might transition to Facebook Messenger, might transition to Discord,” he said. “We should have the same consistent standard across the board.”

The package also includes funding to expand emotional first-aid training for teenagers, with Hochul aiming to make the program available to all 10th graders statewide. “A friend can help another friend in a powerful, profound way,” she said.

While online child safety has drawn bipartisan support in New York, Gounardes acknowledged that industry opposition is likely. “These companies do not like being told what to do,” he said. “They like to do what’s best for them.”