California has adopted what Governor Gavin Newsom described as “nation-leading” legislation that bans addictive social media features for young users, regulates companion chatbots, and implements new safeguards around artificial intelligence. The laws, signed by the Democratic governor on Thursday, include AB 1709, which bars social media companies from using infinite scroll and autoplay features for users under 16.
Governor’s remarks and the scope of the new law
Speaking in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, Newsom emphasized that the legislation targets the core design of social media platforms. “This is about actually addressing the problem, the scrolling, the algorithms. This is about addressing the substantive issue around the engineering,” he said. “And that’s what makes this truly a significant and consequential bill.”
According to the governor’s office, California now has the “strongest companion chatbot regulations” in the United States. The new regulations also update child sexual exploitation laws to include “digitally altered and AI-generated” sexual imagery of minors, expanding existing protections to cover content created or manipulated by artificial intelligence.
Criticism from digital rights advocates
The legislation has drawn criticism from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit focused on digital privacy and free speech. The EFF argues that AB 1709 amounts to a “functional ban on social media use” for users under 16, potentially cutting off young people from important digital communities.
“California should be passing laws to ensure that technology really works for people of all ages, not enacting social media bans that cut young people off from digital lifelines, communities, and speech,” said Rindala Alajaji, the EFF associate director of state affairs, in a statement. “Denying minors access to digital forums – or stripping out basic tools needed to navigate them – is not going to help make young people safer or healthier in the AI age.”
Impact and next steps
The new laws are set to take effect in California, making the state the first to implement such comprehensive restrictions on social media design for minors. The measures will require social media platforms to disable infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16, and to implement specific safeguards for companion chatbots. The update to child sexual exploitation laws will also allow prosecutors to pursue cases involving AI-generated sexual imagery of minors.
