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California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks as Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a news conference on April 16, 2025, in Ceres, Calif.<\/p>\n
Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Last year, a law hit the books in California that would, in 2027, force social media<\/a> companies to dramatically overhaul the feeds scrolled by millions of children across the state. Last week, three tech juggernauts<\/a> \u2014 the companies that run those feeds \u2014 ramped up their battle to stop the law from taking effect.<\/p>\n Meta<\/a>, TikTok<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> each sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta in federal court on Thursday, pointing to the First Amendment and arguing that the law\u2019s attempt to enforce parental controls over social media feeds is a major overreach. They seek an injunction against the state\u2019s enforcement of the law, a push that comes as California\u00a0ramps<\/a> up its regulation<\/a> over the relationships between tech platforms and children.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The law they\u2019re suing over is called the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act<\/a>. Passed during the 2023-2024 session with bipartisan support, the law blocks companies from giving children the sort of social media feeds we\u2019ve come to expect online \u2014 hyperpersonalized, laden with recommended content based on our past social media usage \u2014 unless those minors\u2019 parents give specific consent. The law\u2019s text dubbed our current algorithmically mediated feeds \u201caddictive,\u201d and tied social media usage to young people\u2019s mental health struggles.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children\u00a0\u2014 isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night,\u201d Newsom wrote<\/a> when he signed the bill in September 2024. \u201cWith this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits.\u201d<\/p>\n Should the law go into effect as written, young people in the state will see their social media apps transform, with feeds likely turning into simple, chronological streams of posts based on who they follow. That would buck a trend: Meta and YouTube have followed in TikTok\u2019s footsteps by recommending more content from accounts that their users do not expressly follow.<\/p>\n Meta, TikTok and YouTube, filed their lawsuits after NetChoice, their industry trade group, was denied<\/a> legal standing by the U.S. Court of Appeals in September for its own attempt to block the law\u2019s personalized feed provisions. In their complaints,\u00a0TikTok and YouTube argue that the law is vague and they skewer the painting of social media feeds as \u201caddictive\u201d; Meta writes that if the law is enforced the company will \u201csuffer an irreparable First Amendment injury.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n