California enacts new curbs on social media for children

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law new restrictions barring children under 16 from exposure to behaviourally addictive features on social media platforms and banning toys containing AI companion chatbots.

The two measures were among 13 bills Newsom enacted as part of a package aimed at safeguarding young people from technologies seen as posing risks to their wellbeing, including measures to strengthen online privacy protections for minors.

Another measure expands criminal sanctions for child sexual abuse material to include digitally altered or AI-generated content depicting anyone under 18 engaged in sexual conduct.

A separate law bans the manufacture and sale of toys incorporating companion chatbots for the next four years. A related measure requires parental controls for chatbot programmes, along with other safety measures and risk assessments.

Newsom described the regulations as the most far-reaching of their kind in the US.

One of the measures, dubbed "Adam's Law", was named in memory of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide in April 2025. His parents said he acted on suicidal thoughts that were validated during months of conversations with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

OpenAI has said it intends to strengthen ChatGPT's safeguards. The company has acknowledged that its safeguards became "less reliable" as user interactions grew more prolonged.

"We want our children – and every California kid – to grow up in a world where technology supports their wellbeing, rather than exploits their vulnerabilities," Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the measures.

California, home to major technology companies including Google, Meta Platforms and Snap, joins a growing list of US states cracking down on business strategies seen as deliberately designed to keep teenagers engaged on social media, despite evidence linking extensive use to mental health risks.

The measures have received broad bipartisan support, although some critics have opposed them as unnecessary restrictions on young people's internet access. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called the legislation "a massive privacy and free speech nightmare".

Utah was the first US state to adopt laws regulating children's access to social media. It was followed by states including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Florida and New York, although their approaches have varied.

'Psychologically exploitative' features targeted

Countries around the world have also moved to restrict children's access to harmful online content. Australia, for example, has banned social media use by children under 16.

California's version, known as Assembly Bill 1709, prohibits children under 16 from being exposed to a range of "psychologically exploitative features intended to maximise engagement that foreseeably lead to compulsive use".

These include infinite-scroll feeds, algorithmic autoplay and other features to be defined through future regulations.

The law comes as Big Tech companies, facing mounting legal challenges, have shown greater willingness to accept new restrictions.

Meta agreed three weeks ago to pay as much as $18 billion over the next decade and impose strict limits on how teenagers use its Facebook and Instagram platforms under a deal with nearly all US states to resolve civil claims that the company designed its social media platforms to addict children.