California will join New York in requiring social media companies to provide teens with chronological feeds by default, rather than feeds generated by algorithm.
The sweeping change is contained in a social media reform bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed Friday. The new law also mandates that social media platforms do not send minors notifications or alerts during school hours and overnight.
Kids can override the default settings with their parents’ permission.
“Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children,” Newsom said in a statement. “With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits.”
New York lawmakers passed the nation’s first ban on “addictive” social media feeds earlier this year. California Sen. Nancy Skinner (D) announced her nearly identical bill in January alongside Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), who cosponsored the measure.
Approval of both measures, in two of the most populous states in the country, signals state policymakers’ growing resolve to regulate social media companies despite numerous setbacks in court in recent years.
The effort comes amid growing concern about the effects of social media use on the mental health and well-being of teenagers. In June, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Congress should require that social media come with warning labels as do tobacco products.
“Under SB 976, social media companies will no longer have the right to addict our kids to their platforms, sending them harmful and sensational content that our kids don’t want and haven’t searched for,” Skinner said in a statement. “From this day forward, California will be a safe haven, protecting our kids from social media addiction.”
In his statement, Newsom said the addictive feeds law would build on a 2022 first-in-the-nation California law that requires online companies to design products that kids are likely to use with their best interests in mind. That law, known as the Age-Appropriate Design Code, has been held up by a tech industry lawsuit.
The new California and New York algorithm laws could also be challenged by industry lawsuits.
Under the California law, social media companies that deploy algorithmic feeds will have until 2027 to develop a method to determine the age of users and to obtain verifiable parental consent.
The law also requires that parents be given tools to control the settings on their child’s account, something many platforms already offer. Meta this week announced new teen accounts for Instagram that will automatically default to higher privacy and security settings.
Opponents of the California law include tech industry groups along with ACLU California Action and LGBTQ advocacy organizations, who say the law will infringe on speech rights and restrict the ability of youth to access and share information online.
Skinner, in a statement when the bill was passed last month, said California youth will still be able to search for content of their choice and engage with other platform users.She also said the law would not allow parents to access the contents of their child’s social media account.