California Bill Would Let Parents Sue Over Their Kids' Social Media Addiction
Parents and guardians in California may soon be able to sue social media platforms for up to $25,000 under a bill that would hold companies responsible for harming children who become addicted to their products.
The Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act(Opens in a new window), introduced by state Assembly members Jordan Cunningham and Buffy Wicks, aims to prohibit social networks from causing addiction in young people by using or selling their personal data.
Addiction, according to the bill, relates to kids under 18 who are harmed physically, mentally, emotionally, developmentally, or materially by an obsession with services like Facebook and TikTok, but want to stop or reduce their use.
"The era of unfettered social experimentation on children is over and we will protect kids," bill co-author Cunningham, a Republican from San Luis Obispo County, told the Associated Press(Opens in a new window).
The proposal only applies to companies that earned at least $100 million in gross revenue in the past year—like Meta's Facebook and Instagram. It does not have any bearing on email, SMS/MMS, or one-to-one aural communications services, nor streaming sites like Netflix or Hulu, which don't feature user-generated content.
Following approval in the California Assembly on Monday, the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act now moves into the state Senate for weeks of hearings and negotiations. If approved, the bill will head to Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign into law, effective Jan. 1. Companies that remove damaging features by April 1, or conduct regular audits and end practices deemed addictive won't be responsible for damages.
Not everyone is on board, though. TechNet(Opens in a new window), which is a "bipartisan network of
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