Meta and Google, as well as TikTok, have filed lawsuits against California Attorney General Rob Bonta in an attempt to prevent the implementation of a law that restricts users under the age of 16 from using social media features deemed to be addictive.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed this bill, named AB 1709, in September, and it is set to take effect at the beginning of the new year.
This law prohibits social media platforms from providing auto-play videos and personalized information streams to users under the age of 16, and requires platforms to delete the accounts of such users if they do not disable these features. If platforms fail to comply with the regulations, they may face fines of up to $50,000 per affected user under the age of 16.
According to Meta, AB violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution by overruling Meta's editorial decisions regarding how content should be displayed, and it is added that Section 230 of the Communications Act takes precedence over this state law. TikTok and Google have also made similar arguments.
Meta stated in the lawsuit: 'The current methods by which Meta organizes its content information flow include personalized content recommendations and automatic media playback. Therefore, this bill will make it illegal for Meta to disseminate content to minors as a whole, and will require Meta to delete accounts belonging to minors, unless they change these practices.'
A spokesperson added in a statement sent via email: "The ban on 1709 is clearly a unconstitutional restriction on freedom of expression. It undermines the long-established and protected practice of curating content based on user preferences, a method that is currently being used by bookstores, television networks, and streaming services."
AB In September 2017, a trend in legislation continued on a global scale, which was to attempt to improve the mental health outcomes of teenagers by restricting their use of social media. However, digital security experts often warn against such laws, as they may inadvertently harm the privacy of all platform users, including adults, by requiring age verification checks and collecting more user data.
The Deputy Director of State Affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation ( EFF ), Rindala Alajaji, stated at a media briefing: "The AB 1709 law forces platforms to collect more information from every user, violating everyone's privacy and undermining our ability to remain anonymous online. Online monitoring by social media companies is harmful, yet this bill requires even more of such practices, further concentrating power in the hands of tech companies rather than truly protecting users."
Alajaji also indicates that the use of social media by teenagers has always played a key role in driving influential digital activism, and mentions the global impact of the "March for Our Lives" initiated by survivors of the Parkland school shooting, as well as climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Alajaji said, 'As a substantial ban on teenagers under the age of 16 using social media, AB cut off young people's access to crucial information and important experiences in September 2017, silencing the very voices that it claimed it wanted to protect.'
As these platforms grapple with similar legal disputes in multiple countries, they are poised to fight this California law. This is especially true for Meta, which previously agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle child safety-related allegations brought by 29 U.S. states.
In December 2025, Australia became the first country to completely ban social media use for users under the age of 16. France also passed a similar law, but its highest court overturned it on the grounds that it might violate the right to free expression.
These platforms also argue that this law will affect parents' ability to decide how their teenage children use the internet through parental control features.
A spokesperson for Google stated that the auto-play feature on YouTube is disabled by default for minors, and parents also have the option to completely restrict their teenage children's access to Shorts.
A Google spokesperson stated, "We believe that parents are best suited to make the right decisions for their families, which is why we provide a range of protective measures and tools to give parents control. Laws that are too broad like this will actually undermine the system we have established to help children find high-quality, age-appropriate videos."
A representative of Attorney General Bonta stated that his office is reviewing these complaints and is committed to “upholding California’s common-sense laws that protect children’s online safety.”
