By Helaina Dahl.
Three major social media companies are suing California over a bill intended to protect children. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1709 in September, to shield underage kids from the “psychologically exploitative features” of social media. This includes giving children under the age of 16 personalized recommendations and autoplay features.Google, Meta and TikTok filed separate suits to block the law, arguing that the restrictions are in violation of the First Amendment and Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act. Critics of the new bill have called it a “free speech nightmare,” but Section 230 has often been a convenient shield for social media companies in the face of repercussions.Children’s safety, Newsom explained, should always come first when considering social media platforms in California. Many questions remain around a comprehensive solution to social media addiction in children, but the problem continues to grow. The three companies involved in the lawsuit are currently battling thousands of lawsuits by school districts, governments, cities and individuals.
Helaina Dahl is the editorial assistant for Government Technology. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Iowa State and is currently located in Chicago.
See More Stories by Helaina Dahl
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({
appId : ‘314190606794339’,
xfbml : true,
version : ‘v2.9’
});
};
(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
————————————————
Source link
