California Governor Newsom signs into law an online safety bill that puts limits on the data companies collect on minors; the law goes into effect in July 2024
The bill could require many social media sites, games and other online services used by children to install protections for minors.
New York TimesNatasha Singer
Context & Ripple Effects
The signing completes the legislative path that began with California lawmakers’ plan for a child-data measure modeled on the UK approach and the State Senate’s passage of the under-18 safety bill. It turns a proposed set of protections into a compliance deadline for services used by minors.
Social media sites, game makers, and other online services used by minors must prepare protections that limit the data they collect before the law’s July 2024 effective date.
California shifts the immediate burden of child online safety from users and parents toward the companies operating those services.
Second-order effects
Services that use the same data practices across age groups face pressure to distinguish minors’ accounts and experiences, making child-specific safeguards an operational product requirement.
The law establishes a California compliance baseline that later measures can build on, as shown by the state’s subsequent rules targeting feeds, notifications, and platform liability.
Third-order effects
California’s approach points toward platform governance that combines limits on minors’ data collection with requirements governing how services are designed and operated for young users.
If this legislative sequence continues, online-safety compliance will increasingly be defined by state-level duties applied across social, gaming, and other consumer internet services rather than by voluntary child-safety features.
The trend: California is expanding youth online-safety policy from data protections into rules over platform design, engagement mechanics, and operator liability.
This isn't a surprise, but it's still disappointing. @GavinNewsom took the coward's way out and signed the disastrous #CAKidsCode into law, fucking over the internet that helped build California's recent economy. https://www.techdirt.com/...
Ugh. @GavinNewsom just signed two bills (AB 2273 and AB 587 into law.) These bills claim that they'll “protect the children” and “increase transparency” on social media platforms. Unfortunately, they're unconstitutional messes that do nothing of the sort https://www.fightforthefu…
Instead of letting boomer politicians try to turn the Internet into Disneyland to “protect the children” / score campaign points how about we ask what kinds of policies are needed to create the sort of world we want our children to grow up in. One with basic human rights maybe?
BREAKING: We kept the pressure, and @CAgov listened. Today's historic signing of #AB2273 means social media companies can no longer sacrifice young people's health for profit. It means #BigTech has a duty to stop using features that are harmful to kids. https://twitter.com/...
The #CAKidsCode is now law! Unanimously passed by the California State Legislature and signed into law by @CAGovernor, the Age Appropriate Design Code establishes California's leadership in protecting kids online. https://www.gov.ca.gov/...
Just signed California's Age-Appropriate Design Code: https://www.gov.ca.gov/.... Text: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/ .... LOTS for #privacypros - covers services “likely to be accessed” by California residents under 18, DPIAs, default privacy settings, necessity-based coll…
This is amazing news — we look forward to more states passing similar or stronger laws to protect young people online! #FeministNet #ReinInBigTech https://twitter.com/...
Big fan of protecting kids, not a fan of any of the proposed (now-mandatory) ID verification schemes floated so far. Esp. the one that involves a major Canadian porn company's subsidiary collecting children's face scans. No, really: https://twitter.com/... https://www.techdirt.co…
California will be the first state to require online companies to put kids' safety first by barring them from profiling children or using personal information in ways that could harm children physically or mentally. https://cbsaustin.com/...
California is now the leader in protecting kids and teens online! Congratulations to our friends @accountabletech, @ptogetheraction, @5RightsFound, @logoffmovement, and @technicallypoli for getting the #CAKidsCode to the finish line. https://www.gov.ca.gov/...
The #CAKidsCode Act is a terrible bill that won't make the Internet safer for kids and could lead to a world where we all get our faces scanned every time we access a website or online service. That's not the type of world I want my kid growing up in. We have to do better. https:…
Great job, @GavinNewsom, for signing #AB2273, which continues California's nation-leading protections for young people using the internet. It is an important next step following passage of the CA Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which I co-authored. https://www.gov.ca.gov/...
Social media & the internet are integral - but these spaces have to be safe for our children. This bill by @AsmBuffyWicks & @Cunning_Jordan stops companies from manipulating kids' data or violating their privacy while ensuring our tech sector can continue to thrive. https://twitt…
CA is ushering in a new era of online safety for children & their families. It's time to do the same on a national level. My Kids Online Safety Act is ready for a vote. Let's not waste any time bringing it to the Senate floor. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Once again, CA leads the way! @GavinNewsom has signed #AB2273 into law—making CA the first state requiring guardrails on digital apps & websites for users under 18. As the mom of two young girls, this is a game changer. Their online world will now be safer.https://www.nytimes.com…
It's unconscionable for lawmakers to continue using children as pawns to advance legislation that harms children and bars them from finding community and accessing information and knowledge online. If lawmakers want to help kids, invest in education and pass a damn privacy law
I explained that #AB2273 is “so vaguely and broadly written that it will almost certainly lead to widespread use of invasive age verification techniques that subject children (and everyone else) to more surveillance while claiming to protect their privacy” https://thehill.com/...
What happens when you engage youth voice in the policy process? You get better outcomes! Today the @CAGovernor signed the #CAKidsCode into law! https://twitter.com/...