{"id":520047,"date":"2026-11-06T01:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T01:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/520047\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T01:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T01:38:17","slug":"google-tiktik-and-meta-sue-to-block-californias-social-media-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/520047\/","title":{"rendered":"Google, TikTik And Meta Sue To Block California’s Social Media Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThree tech giants \u2014 Google<\/a>, Meta<\/a> and TikTok<\/a> \u2014 sued the state of California over a recently passed law designed to restrict social media platforms from offering \u201caddictive\u201d features to children under 16.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, Google claimed that the law would ban features like YouTube<\/a>\u2018s recommendation system and autoplay feature, even though it works \u201cthe way television always has\u2014when one program ends, the next begins.\u201d It contended that the new law is preempted by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and violates the First Amendment, both on the part of YouTube and its users.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoogle\u2019s legal team wrote in the filing, \u201cThose provisions burden YouTube\u2019s First Amendment right to organize and display the third-party content on its platform in a curated compilation that aligns with YouTube\u2019s value-laden objectives, such as promoting novelty and diversity and delivering age-appropriate content to minors in different age groups. And they infringe the right of YouTube\u2019s under-16 users to access compilations of content that are best suited to their interests, age group, and developmental needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead YouTube\u2019s lawsuit challenging a California social media law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its lawsuit, TikTok argued that the law \u2014 the Digital Age Assurance Act<\/a>, or AB 1709<\/a>, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> in September \u2014 would prohibit its \u201cFor You\u201d feature for children, something that it says is editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment. It also noted that the law goes even further than a similar bill that was passed in 2024 and also is being challenged in court. The new law would restrict the offering of addictive features, regardless of whether parental consent is obtained, TikTok\u2019s legal team noted.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBy prohibiting TikTok from delivering to under-sixteen users the curated compilations of videos it creates for them, and by dictating how TikTok may present those videos, the Act runs headlong into the First Amendment,\u201d the company\u2019s legal team wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey added, \u201cTikTok shares the desire to protect teens on its platform, but the extreme way the Legislature has gone about it in the Act is not consistent with the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its lawsuit, Meta\u2019s legal team wrote that the law would prohibit personalized feeds and autoplay to minors. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs Supreme Court precedent confirms, the feeds of third-party content that Meta makes available on its Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and Threads services \u2018receive First Amendment protection\u2019 because they are the product of Meta\u2019s \u2018expressive choices\u2019 in deciding which kinds of user-generated \u2018content [its] feeds will display, or how the display will be ordered and organized,’\u201d Meta\u2019s legal team wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe companies are seeking a court order to block the implementation of the law, which is scheduled to go into effect January 1.<\/p>\n

\n\tA spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, \u201cWe are reviewing the filing. Our office is committed to defending California\u2019s common sense laws to protect kids online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAssemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach who introduced AB 1709, said in a statement that the lawsuit \u201ccomes straight out of Meta\u2019s playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLet\u2019s take stock of where we are: our courts have found platforms liable for addicting kids, our Legislature acts unanimously to implement sensible guardrails to fix it, and Meta would rather sue the state than lean into what California families overwhelmingly want,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a continuation of Meta\u2019s fight to addict children for profit. As disappointing as this development is, I do trust the courts will put children\u2019s safety over corporate greed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this year, a jury in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube liable for the social media addiction of the plaintiff when she was a child. Another jury in New Mexico found that Meta violated consumer protection laws and was negligent in protecting minors from predators on its platforms. In the latter case, the jury determined penalties of $375 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three tech giants \u2014 Google, Meta and TikTok \u2014 sued the state of California over a recently passed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,199161,17353,2821,457,14624,7644,3412,3808,2278],"class_list":["post-520047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-digital-age-assurance-act","tag-electionline","tag-facebook","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-google","tag-instagram","tag-meta","tag-tiktok","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520047","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=520047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}