{"id":463642,"date":"2026-09-14T19:26:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463642\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T19:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:26:20","slug":"editorial-californias-new-tech-laws-threaten-innovation-and-free-speech-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463642\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: California\u2019s new tech laws threaten innovation and free speech \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Until now, Gov. Gavin Newsom has tried to walk a tightrope when it comes to Artificial Intelligence and the state\u2019s tech industry. On one hand, he has recognized that California\u2019s budget and economy are dependent on the state\u2019s leading-edge role in the tech industry, as 32 of 50 of the world\u2019s top AI firms<\/a> are headquartered within our borders. On the other hand, he has backed modest legislation that tries to limit the harmful effects of the tech revolution while vetoing measures that go too far.<\/p>\n

However, his latest signings<\/a> \u2014 of 13 bills designed ostensibly to protect children \u2014 suggest he\u2019s done trying to navigate a middle ground and is leaning in to tougher restrictions. Although these bills are well-intentioned, they are unlikely to provide realistic protections. They pose real threats to the development of technological advancements and to free speech.<\/p>\n

CalMatters reported<\/a> on the \u201cemotional signing ceremony\u201d last week that featured the mother of a teenager \u201cwho died by suicide after coaching by ChatGPT isolated him from his family and friends.\u201d We would never minimize such tragedies, but we doubt the resulting legislation, Adam\u2019s Law, will fix anything. That legislation, Senate Bill 1119, would require audits and regulations designed to stop \u201cthe production of suicidal ideation, suicide or self-harm content to the user.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restrictions are vague and there\u2019s little reason to believe they\u2019ll help. \u201cEven academic researchers who have spent their entire careers studying the effects of technology use have not reached clear and convincing conclusions, given the impossibility of knowing the particular emotions and circumstances of an individual,\u201d argued the Civil Justice Association of California, in its opposition<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SB 1119 will mainly just be a burden to tech companies and facilitate more government meddling where it isn\u2019t needed.<\/p>\n

Newsom also signed Assembly Bill 2<\/a>, which imposes fines of $5,000 to $1 million on companies whose platforms cause \u201can injury to a minor through failure to exercise ordinary care.\u201d If that sounds like another money-making opportunity for ambulance chasing lawyers, that\u2019s because it is. As trade group TechNet argues, the law \u201ceffectively assumes that all features are harmful and imposes liability on a site for offering any of those features to children,\u201d which seems like an overreach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This one could trigger a federal legal battle. TechNet argues that AB 2 violates Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which shields tech firms from such liability. So, expect this one to end up in the courts.<\/p>\n

Also problematic, Assembly Bill 1709<\/a> would prohibit a platform \u201cfrom providing an addictive feature\u201d to anyone under 16. It limits lawsuits to those filed by a district attorney or state attorney general, but the definition of addictive is a serious problem as it casts a wide net and ignores how individuals respond to similar features.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supporters of the bill say it merely targets \u201cthe mechanics of addictive platform design, not protected speech or online content.\u201d We\u2019d argue the Legislature also has no business dictating the mechanics of any technology\u2019s design.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of the signed tech bills<\/a> are unobjectionable and even praiseworthy. One requires further reporting of materials depicting child sexual abuse. Another expands the definition of child sexual abuse to include AI-created materials. Another protects the personal information of students. But the main bills in this package are too vague and meddlesome \u2014 and could tangle California\u2019s tech industry in a sea of litigation and regulation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Until now, Gov. Gavin Newsom has tried to walk a tightrope when it comes to Artificial Intelligence and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,1965,975],"class_list":["post-463642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-editorials","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}