Meta, Google and TikTok have gone to federal court in California to stop a state law that would bar social media companies from offering addictive features to teens under 16. The companies want the law blocked before it takes effect in January.
The law, one of several online child-safety bills Gov. Newsom signed this year, names what it targets: infinite scroll, autoplay and recommendations. Those design choices are blamed in part for a teen mental health crisis that the law seeks to curb.
Analysis: California chose to regulate how feeds work, not what any particular post says. The companies answer with the First Amendment. Their three suits argue the law infringes on their free-speech rights, and Meta's complaint contends it would turn the state into the editor, curator and controller of online speech.
Google, which owns YouTube, argues the law would undercut YouTube's efforts to give users under 16 safe and enriching experiences. Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in an email that parents are best positioned to make decisions for their families.
Overly broad laws like this actually break the systems we’ve built to help kids find high-quality, age-appropriate videos.
José Castañeda, Google spokesperson
The pushback is not coming only from the companies. While the bill was before the Legislature, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued it was so broad, and the features it covered so fundamental, that it would amount to a full social media ban for teenagers. NetChoice, an industry-aligned group, has backed the lawsuits, saying the state cannot limit minors' access to protected expression just because it considers that expression harmful.
Supporters see the legal ground differently. The Electronic Privacy Information Center responded that courts have already been rejecting the industry's claims that the First Amendment shields it from accountability.
In this analysis, the companies' free-speech framing sits uneasily beside recent history. In August, Meta agreed to pay as much as $17 billion in a settlement with 47 states that argued it had engineered its products to be addictive to children.
