(TNND) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed bills aimed at making social media safer for kids by limiting so-called addictive features and raising penalties for platforms found negligent in harming children.
Assemblyman Josh Lowenthal, a Long Beach Democrat and the lead author of the bills, said Friday that he’s “ecstatic” to see them become law.
Both go into effect Jan. 1.
“We have a multi-trillion-dollar sector that has profited off of the attention span of our most vulnerable, and it absolutely has to end,” Lowenthal said.
Assembly Bill 1709 targets features that have become part and parcel of social media apps: algorithms, infinite scroll, autoplay and notifications.
The new law requires social media platforms to delete the accounts of children under 16 if they can’t offer them a version free of the addictive features, as defined. Failure to do so could result in financial civil penalties.
The bill also creates an e-safety commission to advise on the implementation of the law and on online safety in the state moving forward.
Lowenthal said Assembly Bill 2 is the “real muscle” in holding social media companies accountable to families.
AB 2 leverages existing negligence law, increasing the damages available when a platform is found negligent in harming a child to up to $1 million or three times actual damages, whichever is greater. The bill is intended to give families more leverage to go after social media companies and to incentivize the companies to play by the rules or risk significant financial costs.
Assemblyman Josh Lowenthal is seen at a bill-signing ceremony Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, in Marin County, Calif. Lowenthal’s bills that prohibit so-called addictive features on social media platforms used by children and that raise civil penalties for social media platforms were signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Lowenthal’s office)
“This is not a big tobacco moment,” Lowenthal said. “We are not trying to put these entities out of business.”
They’re not even necessarily trying to keep kids off social media. Lowenthal mentioned the importance of protecting access to online communities for kids, particularly marginalized youth.
But he said kids spend an average of five hours a day on social media, and he said that called for new safety standards in light of youth mental health concerns.
“And we feel like we really truly found that secret spot,” Lowenthal said. “Instead of putting the onus on children and families, we’re putting the onus on the platforms themselves. They should not and cannot offer harmful and addictive features until children have the developmental ability to handle that. And we’ve determined that to be the age of 16. And we provide a pathway for them to be good actors by removing those features for young people. And as long as they do so, then children can continue to be in that ecosystem.”
Common Sense Media Founder and CEO Jim Steyer, who leads an organization working to protect children and teens online, applauded the bills’ signing. Common Sense Media sponsored both bills.
“California just drew the line the industry spent a decade pretending didn’t exist,” Steyer said in a statement. “Platforms will no longer be able to target kids under 16 with features that have been engineered to siphon their attention. That is a major victory for kids, and California won it first. Every legislator in every statehouse should be putting this bill into motion. We thank Governor Newsom for signing it and the Legislature for passing it without a single no vote.”
Lowenthal said his social media “age-gating” bill was significantly modeled after the Australian law that ushered in the first nationwide restrictions. And he said the California bill was designed as a blueprint for other states to follow.
“The goal is for other states to adopt the California model and put pressure on the federal government to do the very same,” he said.
The framework can work in both red and blue states, Lowenthal said.
“The bill didn’t just pass bipartisan. The joint authors of this bill are both Republicans and Democrats alike,” he said. “And none of us are leading as legislators. We’re all leading as parents.”
