Newsom signs bill to regulate social media use among children

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill that aims to reduce social media use among children, the latest state effort to regulate the medium over increasing concerns that heavy use is damaging to young people.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill that aims to reduce social media use among children, the latest state effort to regulate the medium over increasing concerns that heavy use is damaging to young people. The Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act makes it unlawful for online services and applications to provide an “addictive feed” to a minor, unless they are unaware the user is underage or have obtained parental consent. It passed the Democratic-led state Legislature by comfortable margins last month. “Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children – isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement. “With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits.” The bill defines an “addictive feed” as “an internet website, online service, online application or mobile application in which multiple pieces of media generated or shared by users are recommended, selected, or prioritized for display to a user based on information provided by the user, or otherwise associated with the user or the user’s device, as specified, unless any of certain conditions are met.” It bans notifications from platforms from midnight to 6 a.m. and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, times when children are in school, unless the user has parental consent. Platforms must allow parents the option to choose specific hours for their child to not receive notifications, limit access to the platform’s feed, view the number of “likes” and set their child’s account to private. The bill, citing a different California social media law that passed in 2022, “prohibits the business from using the personal information of any child in a way that the business knows, or has reason to know, is materially detrimental to the physical health, mental health, or well-being of a child.” Critics of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act have pointed to the “materially detrimental” language as too vague and fear violations of the First Amendment, and the legislation has faced legal challenges.