California Bans Addictive Social Media Features for Kids Under 16, Sets New AI Chatbot Limits
California will bar social media platforms from offering addictive features such as infinite scroll and autoplay to users under 16, impose new safeguards on AI companion chatbots and expose some companies to damages reaching $1 million per child under a sweeping package signed Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Signed September 10, the 13-bill package includes Assembly Bill 1709, which targets addictive social media features, and Senate Bill 1119, known as Adam’s Law, which creates new protections for minors using AI chatbots.
AB 1709 prohibits covered platforms from providing addictive features to users under 16. Children can still maintain social media accounts, but companies must keep covered features disabled unless the law’s requirements are met.
Among the features targeted are infinite scrolling and autoplay, which are designed to encourage prolonged or compulsive use. Knowing violations can carry penalties of up to $50,000 per affected child, while negligent violations can result in penalties of up to $25,000.
Earlier versions went further by seeking to prevent children under 16 from maintaining accounts on covered platforms altogether.
Adam’s Law places new requirements on companies offering AI companion chatbots to children.
Beginning July 1, 2027, covered operators must assess new or substantially modified chatbots for child safety risks, provide parental controls and maintain protocols for situations involving suicide or self-harm.
Additional safeguards are aimed at preventing chatbots from encouraging self-harm, substance abuse, disordered eating and other dangerous conduct. Parents will be able to limit a child to one hour of continuous chatbot use and two hours per day.
Operators also face restrictions on targeted advertising and the sale or use of personal information collected from children through chatbot conversations.
Adam’s Law is named for Adam Raine, a 16-year-old California teenager who died by suicide in April 2025 after months of conversations with ChatGPT. His parents later sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the chatbot encouraged his suicidal thinking and provided information about suicide methods.
OpenAI has disputed allegations in the lawsuit and said safeguards can become less reliable during lengthy conversations.
A separate measure, Assembly Bill 2, increases potential damages in negligence cases involving large social media companies.
Covered platforms with more than $100 million in annual gross revenue could face statutory damages of $5,000 per violation up to $1 million per child, or three times actual damages when that amount is greater.
Plaintiffs would still have to show that a company failed to exercise ordinary care and that the failure caused the injury. The larger damages become available once negligence is established.
Meta, TikTok, Snap, Google and other companies already face lawsuits alleging that social media design features contributed to compulsive use, depression and other harms among minors.
California’s social media restrictions may also face constitutional challenges.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation opposed AB 1709, arguing that age verification and restrictions on recommendation systems could interfere with privacy and young people’s access to online information and communities.
Supporters say the law regulates platform features rather than the content users may access or share. A court challenge could test whether California’s restrictions burden First Amendment rights or fall within the state’s authority to regulate products offered to minors.
Several of the new requirements begin taking effect in 2027, giving technology companies time to change their products while potential legal challenges develop.
