Meta, Google, and TikTok sue California AG over teen social media law

Meta, Google, and TikTok person each filed lawsuits against California Attorney General Rob Bonta successful an effort to artifact a instrumentality that restricts societal media features it deems addictive for users nether 16.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill, known arsenic AB 1709, into instrumentality successful September, and it’s slated to instrumentality effect astatine the commencement of the caller year.

The instrumentality prohibits societal platforms from offering autoplay videos and personalized feeds to users nether 16, and it requires the platforms to delete these users’ accounts if they don’t crook those features off. If platforms bash not comply, they could beryllium liable for fines of up to $50,000 per affected idiosyncratic nether 16 years old.

Meta claims that AB 1709 violates the First Amendment by overriding its editorial decisions astir however to show content, adding that Section 230 preempts the law. TikTok and Google made akin arguments.

“Meta presently organizes its feeds of contented to see personalized contented recommendations and to automatically play media, [so] the Act would marque it unlawful for Meta to disseminate code to minors altogether, and would necessitate Meta to delete minors’ accounts, unless it changes these practices,” the institution wrote successful its lawsuit.

In an emailed statement, a TikTok spokesperson added, “AB 1709 is simply a blatantly unconstitutional regularisation connected escaped look that erodes the long-standing and protected signifier of curating contented based connected idiosyncratic preferences, which publication stores, TV networks and streaming services each use.”

AB 1709 follows a inclination of legislation astir the world that seeks to curb teen societal media usage successful an effort to amended teen intelligence wellness outcomes. However, integer information experts often caution against these laws due to the fact that they tin inadvertently compromise the privateness of each level users, including adults, by requiring property verification checks that cod much idiosyncratic data.

“AB 1709 compels platforms to cod adjacent much accusation from each user, invading everyone’s privateness and frustrating our quality to stay anonymous online,” EFF Associate Director of State Affairs Rindala Alajaji said successful a property briefing. “Online surveillance by societal media companies is harmful, and yet this measure requires adjacent much of it, further concentrating powerfulness successful the hands of tech companies alternatively than really protecting users.”

Alajaji added that teenagers’ usage of societal media usage has been instrumental successful enabling impactful integer activism, citing the Parkland shooting survivors’ March for our Lives and clime activistic Greta Thunberg’s planetary reach.

“As a functional prohibition connected societal media for younker nether 16, AB 1709 cuts young radical disconnected from indispensable accusation and experiences, silencing the precise voices it claims to protect,” Alajaji said.

These platforms are primed to combat this California instrumentality arsenic they navigate akin ineligible battles successful assorted countries. That’s particularly existent for Meta, which agreed to wage a colony of up to $18 billion to resoluteness children’s information claims brought by 29 U.S. states —

In December 2025, Australia became the archetypal state to ban societal media for users nether 16 altogether. France passed a akin law, but its apical tribunal struck it down, citing concerns astir violations of escaped look rights.

These platforms besides reason that the instrumentality would impact parents’ quality to marque decisions astir their teens’ net usage done parental controls.

A Google spokesperson noted that autoplay connected YouTube is turned disconnected for minors by default, and that parents person the quality to crook disconnected their teens’ entree to Shorts altogether.

“We judge parents are champion positioned to marque the close decisions for their families, which is wherefore we connection a scope of protections and tools that enactment parents successful control,” a Google spokesperson said. “Overly wide laws similar this really interruption the systems we’ve built to assistance kids find high-quality, age-appropriate videos.”

A typical for Attorney General Bonta said that his bureau is reviewing the filings and is committed to “defending California’s commonsense laws to support kids online.”