SACRAMENTO, California \u2014 Social media giant Meta is pushing California state lawmakers to shield it from pending legislation that would increase legal penalties in child-harm cases, according to two people familiar with the effort.<\/p>\n
The people, granted anonymity to discuss private negotiations, told POLITICO that lobbyists for Meta have approached Senate Judiciary Chair and Santa Ana Democrat Tom Umberg with draft amendments that would create a pathway for social media companies to gain an exemption from the legislation, AB 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n The bill from Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a Long Beach Democrat, threatens fines of up to $1 million per child for platforms found liable for harming kids through negligent product design. It\u2019s set for a Tuesday hearing in Umberg\u2019s committee.<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s plea comes as it faces hundreds of lawsuits<\/a> accusing the company of failing to protect kids\u2019 safety on its platforms. The proposal is the latest example of how the company is maneuvering politically amid pending product safety lawsuits and surging global efforts to slap strict kids\u2019 safety guardrails on social media platforms.<\/p>\n The draft amendments would exempt social media platforms from increased penalties in child harm cases if the companies activate a suite of default child safety settings. Those settings include disabling autoplay, restricting geolocation data sharing, silencing nighttime notifications, preventing kids from receiving direct messages from unknown adults, shielding minors\u2019 profiles from public view and preventing explicit material from being shown to kids.<\/p>\n The amendments would also require the companies, if they want safe harbor from liability, to enable tools that allow parents to restrict their kids\u2019 screen time, hide their kids\u2019 profiles from public view, monitor who their kids interact with online and report misconduct.<\/p>\n If accepted by lawmakers, the amendments could lead to reduced payouts in the pending cases where parents and young people accuse Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap of designing platforms that fostered youth harms including addiction, depression and suicidality. Meta and Google were ordered to pay $6 million in damages after a Los Angeles jury found the companies liable<\/a> in one such case in March.<\/p>\n Umberg declined to comment on the amendments, as did a spokesperson for Meta.<\/p>\n Just last week, Reuters reported<\/a> the company was lobbying Congress for legal immunity from child-harm claims.<\/p>\n