California passes strict laws on social media and AI for minors

Pressure on social networks and the use of artificial intelligence for children and teenagers in California. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of 13 bills that introduce some of the strongest protections in the United States for minors online.

From 2027, social media will no longer be able to offer mechanisms designed to keep under 16s glued to the screen: videos that start automatically, continuous scrolling and content chosen by the algorithm based on what they have watched or searched for previously. New rules also for chatbots: they will have to make it clear to children that they are talking to an artificial intelligence and not a person, offer parents control tools and warn them if their child deactivates the protections. In the presence of conversations about suicide or self-harm, specific emergency protocols must be activated.

"The safety of our children deserves to be at the center of every discussion about technology. Innovation advances faster and faster; our protections must keep pace," said the governor of the state that hosts the largest concentration of tech companies in the country. "Innovation entails responsibilities and the protection of our children comes first," Newsom declared as he signed the laws, not in his office, but in a children's museum in the Bay Area, surrounded by his wife, the deputies who proposed the measures and some parents of children harmed by uncontrolled use of the Internet, such as the mother of Adam Raine, a sixteen-year-old who committed suicide in 2025 after months of conversations with ChatGpt.

The package arrives a few weeks after the conclusion in Oakland of the trial against Meta, accused by dozens of states of having designed Facebook and Instagram with mechanisms that encourage compulsive use among children and adolescents. The company reached a $17 billion settlement and pledged to introduce new protections for those under 18, from daily usage limits to blocking notifications at night and during school hours.