California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping package of online child-safety legislation Thursday, moving the state toward tighter controls on both social-media design and artificial-intelligence chatbots used by minors.
The measures put California at the center of a fast-moving national debate over how much responsibility technology companies should bear for the products children use every day. The package includes new restrictions on addictive social-media features for users under 16, stronger age-verification requirements and a first-of-its-kind safety framework for AI chatbots interacting with minors.
The New York Times reported the signings Thursday as California expands a broader push to regulate technology products that lawmakers say can expose children to compulsive design, harmful content and unsafe AI interactions.
Social platforms face new limits on addictive features
Assembly Bill 1709 bars covered social-media platforms from providing users under 16 with versions of their services that include certain addictive features, including autoplay and other design elements intended to encourage compulsive use. Platforms will be required to take steps to determine a user’s age and either provide a non-addictive experience or prevent the underage account from accessing those features.
The law stops short of a blanket social-media ban for everyone under 16, which had been contemplated in earlier versions of the legislation. Instead, it targets the product mechanics that lawmakers argue are designed to maximize engagement.
The move builds on California’s earlier Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, which restricts addictive feeds and certain notifications for minors without parental consent.
AI chatbots get a separate safety framework
Newsom also signed Senate Bill 1119, known as Adam’s Law, which creates new requirements for AI chatbot operators serving minors. The law requires age checks, crisis-support resources when a minor expresses signs of self-harm, risk assessments for new or materially changed chatbot designs and independent safety audits submitted to the state attorney general.
The measure also creates a legal path for families and the state to pursue claims when companies allegedly fail to meet those requirements.
The chatbot rules arrive as AI companies and policymakers reconsider how conversational systems should interact with children. California had already adopted safeguards for companion chatbots, while Newsom on Wednesday signed separate legislation requiring independent third-party evaluation and audits for certain advanced AI systems.
California is choosing product rules over warnings alone
The significance of the package is that it goes beyond disclosure. Instead of simply requiring warning labels or parental dashboards, California is increasingly regulating how digital products are designed and what features companies may offer to younger users.
That approach will be closely watched by Meta, TikTok, OpenAI and other technology companies because California’s size can effectively turn state regulation into a national product standard. Building a separate California-only version of a major platform is often more complicated than applying the same safeguards more broadly.
Tech companies and civil-liberties groups have raised concerns about age verification, including the privacy implications of collecting more identity information from users. Supporters argue that stronger verification is necessary if age-based protections are going to work at all.
The broader direction is becoming clear: lawmakers are moving from asking platforms to make children’s products safer toward defining which product behaviors are acceptable in the first place.