California lawmakers are pursuing legislation aimed at protecting children from the dangers of social media, one of many efforts around the country to confront what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and other public health experts say is a mental health emergency among young people.
But California’s efforts, like those in other states, will likely face the same legal challenges that have thwarted previous legislative attempts to regulate social media. The tech industry has argued successfully that imposing rules regulating how social media operate and how people can use the online services violates the free speech rights of the companies and their customers. This story also ran on .
It can be . A previous effort at confronting the issue, the in 2022, now rests with the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. A tech trade association sued to block the law and won an injunction from a lower court, largely on First Amendment grounds. The appeals court heard oral arguments in the case on July 17.
“At the end of the day, unconstitutional law protects zero children,” said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, which argued for the tech giants before the federal appellate court. Like the design code act, the two proposals now working their way through the California Legislature would reshape the way social media users under 18 interact with the services. The , by state Sen.
Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), prohibits sending push notifications to children a.