California's State Senate passes an online safety bill for under 18s, requiring services to increase protection for children; Gov. Newsom must approve the bill
The new rules, which would require many online services to increase protections for children, could change how popular social media and game platforms treat minors.
What makes the passage consequential is where it led — Newsom signed the bill into law within weeks, putting data-collection limits on minors into effect by July 2024, and it became the template for a string of follow-on California minors'-safety statutes.
First-order effects
Online services popular with minors — social media and game platforms named in the coverage — must now plan for higher default protections for under-18 users or risk non-compliance once the law activates.
Governor Newsom becomes the decisive actor: his approval converts a legislative statement into enforceable rules, so platform compliance teams and Sacramento lobbyists pivot entirely to his office.
Second-order effects
Once signed, the July 2024 effective date forces engineering and product changes on platforms nationwide, since most major services will not run a separate California-minors build — effectively exporting California's design requirements to all US teen users.
The signed law lowers the political cost of further intervention, clearing the way for AB 1394's platform liability for knowingly facilitating commercial CSAM and later for SB 976's ban on addictive feeds and overnight notifications.
The longer-term structure is a state-by-state safety-code regime replacing federal inaction, with platforms designing to the strictest state's standard rather than waiting for Congress.
The trend: California is assembling a layered statutory stack governing how online services treat minors — data limits first, then liability, then engagement-design bans — with each law building on the last.
BREAKING: The California State Senate has passed the #CAKidsCode. This is a huge step forward—a first-of-its-kind measure in the U.S. to protect the safety of children and teens online. https://twitter.com/...
California can lead the nation by passing the #CAKidsCode to help protect California's children from addictive and toxic online environments. Read the op-ed from Nancy Kim, a law professor at @ChicagoKentLaw. https://www.latimes.com/...
California lawmakers—especially Gov. Newsom—should reject AB 587, AB 2879, and AB 2273, which are unconstitutional efforts that will fail families online. https://netchoice.org/... #CALeg #privacy
Today we take a MASSIVE step forward towards the recognition and enforcement of children's established rights in the digital environment! 🎉https://www.nytimes.com/ ...
This just in: California passes landmark children's online safety bill by a vote of 33 to 0. It's the first U.S. state statute that would require social media, games and other platforms for general audiences to install guardrails for users under 18. https://www.nytimes.com/...
All the section 230 protectionists have been asleep at the wheel while over last couple years, the world has accepted and normalized that these platforms are just products. And must be held to common standards of care.
good point @cagoldberglaw ... Tech industry lobbying helped kill a California bill that would have allowed parents to sue social media companies for harms to children. The children's online safety bill may not have passed last night if it had included private right of action. htt…
Huge news: Platforms must factor in harms to children in their product design. Or face fines and injunctions by CA AG. Now let's do one in NY with private right of action so kids (and not govt) can sue for harmful design. Wdyt @Sen_Gounardes https://www.nytimes.com/...