OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — California lawmakers on Monday targeted what they called the addictive nature of social media for children, announcing two bills that would change how kids use the technology.
The Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act — Senate Bill 976, written by East Bay Democratic state Senator Nancy Skinner — would set certain defaults on a child’s social media settings.
The bill would prohibit social media platforms from sending what Skinner called “an addictive social media feed” to children without parental consent. It would also bar notifications from midnight to 6 a.m. and during school hours without a parent’s consent.
A default limiting online time to one hour would be imposed, as research has shown that over three hours a day can double the risk of mental health challenges for youth. The bill also would reduce the visibility of “likes,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
“Social media companies have the ability to protect our kids,” Skinner said. “They could act. They do not.”
Skinner, Bonta and Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, whose district also includes the East Bay, announced the legislation in a Monday press conference. Wicks discussed her companion legislation, Assembly Bill 1949, which will heighten data privacy protections under the state’s Consumer Privacy Act.
Currently, that act doesn’t protect 17-year-olds or stop businesses from collecting and using data from children, as long as they don’t sell it. That’s enabled social media companies from gathering and monetizing children’s data, as well as manipulating them into spending multiple hours online, Bonta’s office said.
“So many parents out there are saying the status quo cannot stand,” Wicks said, inviting social media companies to the conversation.
Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — couldn’t be reached for comment.
Bonta said the nation faces a mental health crisis involving children, adding that social media harms children through its practices. Skinner and Wicks’ bills, which his office sponsors, aim to reduce those harms.
“We need to do better,” Bonta said. “We need to do things differently.”
Both Skinner and Wicks pointed to their duty to protect Californians from harm. Skinner said people know social media addiction is harmful. Wicks pointed to a chain of events that can lead to harm — data that’s collected then informs the social media algorithm, which in turn affects advertisements.
That means a child searching for how to lose weight could then see an ad for diet pills, Wicks said, adding: “Parents are demanding change."
The bills announced Monday aren’t California’s first foray into oversight of social media. Bonta along with over a dozen other state attorneys general sued Meta in October in federal court, arguing it made Instagram and Facebook addictive to youth.
According to the complaint, Mark Zuckerberg — Meta’s CEO — vetoed a proposal to ban images that simulated plastic surgery effects. This was despite pushback that the filter negatively affects people’s mental health.
The introduction of the bills comes two days before the U.S. Senate is set to hold a hearing with five big tech CEOs on what Skinner in a statement called “their failure to protect children online.”
“Social media companies have designed their platforms to addict users, especially our kids,” Skinner said. “Countless studies show that once a young person has a social media addiction, they experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.”
Assemblymember Joe Patterson, a Rocklin Republican, posted on X that he doesn’t believe any company should sell or store children’s data, other than what’s required to offer its service.
“Question is on the Senator Skinner bill — how is ‘addictive feature’ defined?” Patterson asked. “My kids are addicted to video games, too. That bill will be hard to nail down reasonable definition but I’m looking forward to the discussion.”
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