Newsom signs bill to regulate social media use among children
CNN
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.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that nearly 100,000 residents who may not have fulfilled the state’s proof-of-citizenship requirements can still vote in state and local races this year, quickly resolving how election officials should address a clerical glitch that had left the eligibility of those registered voters in question.
Facing intense criticism for promoting false claims that Haitian immigrants in the Ohio city of Springfield are abducting and eating other residents’ pets, Sen. JD Vance has tried to pivot by blaming Vice President Kamala Harris and the influx of Haitians during her vice presidency for a variety of broader social issues in Springfield.
Georgia election board requires ballots be hand-counted despite warning from key GOP state officials
Allies of former President Donald Trump who control the Georgia State Election Board approved a controversial new rule Friday requiring counties to hand-count the of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day, despite bipartisan objections from election officials and poll workers.
After a quarter-century hosting giant pandas, Zoo Atlanta is saying goodbye to its beloved residents. The zoo announced its four giant pandas: Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun and Xi Lun will head home to China mid-October. Meanwhile, the San Diego Zoo welcomed two new pandas this summer, and the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington expects to become home to two bears by the end of 2024.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Friday launched a new television ad seeking to tie former President Donald Trump to North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson, a day after a bombshell KFile report detailed a series of inflammatory comments Robinson made more than a decade ago.