A Bill Changed in the California Legislature to Make Social Media Companies Accountable for Kids Addicted
A Bill Changed in the California Legislature to Make Social Media Companies Accountable for Kids Addicted
A first-of-its-kind proposal in the California Legislature that aims to hold social media companies responsible for harm to children who have become addicted to their products will no longer happen Let parents sue popular platforms Like Instagram and Tiktok.
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The revised proposal would still make social media companies liable for damages of up to $250,000 per violation for using features they know children may be addicted to. But it would only let prosecutors, not parents, file lawsuits against social media companies. The law was amended last month, CalMatters reported Thursday.
The bill’s author, Republican Assembly member Jordan Cunningham, said he made the changes to ensure the bill gets enough votes to pass in the state Senate, where he said many lawmakers were “about creating new types of lawsuits.” I was terrified.”
“He fears it will open the floodgates for absurd claims,” Cunningham said. “They seem to be more comfortable letting it be handled by public prosecutors, who are already pioneering this kind of consumer protection type of stuff.”
Although the amended bill could win more votes in the state legislature, it hasn’t won over social media companies, many of which are based in California and are in opposition. TechNet, a group of technology CEOs and senior executives, says it’s nearly impossible to separate social media content — words, photos and videos uploaded by people — from the features companies use to distribute that content. , which includes things like push notifications, newsfeeds, and the like. Ability to scroll endlessly through posts.
“I think this violates our First Amendment rights and our editorial discretion,” said Dylan Hoffman, TechNet’s executive director for California and Southwest. “There is no point in identifying the feature when it is the underlying material that may be causing the problem.”
Hoffman said social media companies have introduced a lot of new features to address the “really difficult and complicated issue” of children’s use of social media. Many platforms let parents set time limits for their children or disable certain features.
“There’s a lot of innovation in this space to make sure parents and kids are better able to control their social media use,” Hoffman said.
The bill would exempt social media companies from these lawsuits if they audit their features quarterly and remove any harmful products within 30 days of learning that children become addicted.
Hoffman says this would give companies little protection because advocates claim that almost everything about a social media app or website is addictive, including newsfeeds and algorithms suggesting content.
He said companies would have to dismantle their entire websites within 30 days to avoid liability – something Hoffman said would be “impossible.”
Cunningham scoffed at that argument, saying the law would encourage social media companies to police themselves to avoid punishment. He added that most other products are covered under consumer protection laws that allow people to sue companies for selling products they deem dangerous.
“We haven’t expanded this to social media platforms yet because they’re new, and we didn’t really know they were doing this social experiment on our kids’ brains,” Cunningham said. “They have no incentive to change.”
The bill is one of several proposals in the Legislature this year targeting social media companies.
A bill from Democratic Assembly member Jesse Gabriel would require social media companies to publicly disclose their policies for removing problem content, and to detail how and when it was removed.
A bill from Sen. Tom Umberg would let Californians who were targeted in a violent social media post seek a court order to remove the post.
And a bill from Assembly member Buffy Wicks would require companies to meet certain standards when marketing them online to kids.