{"id":612293,"date":"2026-09-11T00:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T00:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/612293\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T00:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T00:24:08","slug":"gavin-newsom-imposes-strict-new-rules-on-ai-social-media-and-chatbots-for-children-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/612293\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Newsom imposes strict new rules on AI, social media and chatbots for children | Social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

California has adopted what Gavin Newsom<\/a> described as \u201cnation-leading\u201d legislation that bans addictive social media features for young users, regulates companion chatbots and implements new safeguards around AI.<\/p>\n

The laws, signed by the Democratic California<\/a> governor on Thursday, include AB 1709, which bars social media companies from using infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about actually addressing the problem, the scrolling, the algorithms. This is about addressing the substantive issue around the engineering,\u201d Newsom said at a news conference in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes this truly a significant and consequential bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The development comes as states across the US seek to regulate AI companies and increase guardrails to protect young users from the risk of harm from social media platforms.<\/p>\n

Similar action is being taken around the globe. Australia became the first country to ban<\/a> social media for children under 16 last year. The country also recently moved<\/a> to allow social media users to opt out of algorithm-driven content.<\/p>\n

Since Australia\u2019s landmark ban, more than 40 countries<\/a> are considering or have implemented similar policies.<\/p>\n

Under California\u2019s new package of laws, social media companies found to have harmed children with their platforms could face fines up to $1m per child. The laws also allow families to opt out of receiving school-issued laptops, and requires AI chatbot operators to conduct risk assessments before introducing them.<\/p>\n

The state now has the \u201cstrongest companion chatbot regulations\u201d in the US, according to the governor\u2019s office, and requires parental controls and crisis protocols. The chatbot bill is named for Adam Raine<\/a>, who died by suicide last year \u2013 his mother has said he was \u201ccoached\u201d by a chatbot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam was an early adopter of AI, and so many of us parents did not understand the dangers back then,\u201d Maria Raine said during Thursday\u2019s news conference. \u201cNow, we are all becoming more aware of the dangers of AI companionship and the need for our government to act to protect our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new regulations also update child sexual exploitation laws to include \u201cdigitally altered and AI-generated\u201d sexual imagery of minors.<\/p>\n

The package of new legislation is not without critics. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF), a non-profit focused on digital privacy and free speech, argues that AB 1709 is a \u201cfunctional ban on social media use\u201d for users under 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia should be passing laws to ensure that technology really works for people of all ages, not enacting social media bans that cut young people off from digital lifelines, communities and speech,\u201d Rindala Alajaji, the EFF associate director of state affairs, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenying minors access to digital forums \u2013 or stripping out basic tools needed to navigate them \u2013 is not going to help make young people safer or healthier in the AI age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Newsom signed Anthropic-backed laws regulating AI by requiring the state to create a framework for independent organizations to assess AI models\u2019 safety risks, and a registry of AI auditors.<\/p>\n

The new regulations come weeks after Meta agreed<\/a> to a settlement with California and 28 other states that accused the company of harming children with its products. The tech giant agreed pay up to $18bn and establish safeguards for teen users, such as daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed reporting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California has adopted what Gavin Newsom described as \u201cnation-leading\u201d legislation that bans addictive social media features for young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,85,46,125],"class_list":["post-612293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}