What Are California’s New Social Media Restrictions?
Question → What did California actually ban?
California has enacted restrictions preventing children under 16 from being exposed to certain behaviorally addictive features on social media platforms. The law focuses on features that lawmakers say are designed to maximize engagement and can foreseeably lead to compulsive use.
This means the focus is not simply on whether a teenager can access a particular social media platform. Instead, California is targeting aspects of the platform’s design that can encourage users to remain engaged for longer periods.
That distinction is important.
Social media platforms contain many different components. A user might see a feed of posts, receive recommendations from an algorithm, automatically play videos or continue scrolling through content without reaching a natural stopping point.
California’s approach attempts to regulate some of those mechanisms rather than treating social media access as one single issue.
The California social media restrictions were included in a wider package of 13 bills signed by Newsom. According to Reuters, the package was designed to safeguard young people from technology-related risks and included greater online privacy protections for minors.
Definition: Behaviorally addictive features
Behaviorally addictive features are technology design elements intended to maximize engagement and that may encourage repeated or compulsive use.
In California’s new rules, examples include infinite-scroll feeds and algorithmic autoplay. Other covered features may be defined through future regulations.
The policy therefore moves the discussion from simply asking, “Is social media harmful?” to a more specific question: Which design features may encourage harmful patterns of use, particularly among children?
Why Is California Targeting Addictive Social Media Features?
Question → Why focus on design features instead of simply banning social media for teenagers?
California’s legislation is aimed at technology strategies that lawmakers believe are deliberately designed to keep young users engaged.
The issue is that many social platforms do not have a traditional endpoint. A teenager can open a feed, scroll through content, watch an automatically played video, continue scrolling and repeat the process indefinitely.
This can make the experience fundamentally different from consuming a newspaper article, watching a television programme with a defined ending or reading a book chapter.
California Assembly Bill 1709 prohibits children under 16 from exposure to certain “psychologically exploitative features intended to maximize engagement that foreseeably lead to compulsive use.”
That wording places the emphasis on the relationship between product design and user behaviour.
Why infinite scrolling matters
Infinite scrolling removes a clear stopping point.
Instead of reaching the bottom of a page and deciding whether to continue, users can keep receiving new material simply by scrolling.
For younger users, lawmakers are concerned that this type of design can contribute to prolonged engagement.
Why algorithmic autoplay matters
Algorithmic autoplay automatically selects and plays additional content based on platform systems and user behaviour.
The user does not necessarily have to make an active decision to watch the next video.
California specifically identified algorithmic autoplay as one of the features covered by the new legislation.
Together, these features illustrate why the California social media restrictions are about how platforms are designed, not just which platforms teenagers use.
What Does California’s Law Mean for Social Media Companies?
Question → Are social media companies being asked to change their platforms?
Yes. The restrictions target certain platform features when they are used by children under 16.
That could require affected companies to reconsider how engagement-driven systems operate for younger users.
California is home to major technology companies, including Google, Meta Platforms and Snap. Reuters reported that the state is joining a growing group of U.S. states seeking to restrict business strategies viewed as deliberately designed to hook teenagers on social media.
For technology companies, that creates a new compliance challenge.
Instead of having one universal product experience, platforms may increasingly need to distinguish between adult and under-16 users and determine which features are permitted for younger users.
That could affect product design, age assurance, recommendation systems and parental controls.
The practical implementation will also matter because the legislation identifies certain features while leaving others to be defined through future regulations.
What Other Technology Rules Did California Enact?
The California social media restrictions are only one part of the technology package signed by Newsom.
Question → What else is included in California’s new technology rules?
The package includes measures addressing AI chatbot toys, chatbot safety, child sexual abuse material and online privacy protections for minors.
This broader scope shows that California’s policy response is not limited to traditional social media.
1. AI companion chatbot toys
California has enacted a measure banning the manufacture and sale of toys incorporating companion chatbots for four years.
An AI companion chatbot is a conversational AI system designed to interact with a user in a relationship-like or companion-style manner.
Putting such technology into a physical toy creates a different safety question from using an ordinary chatbot on a computer or phone.
A child could potentially interact with the system for extended periods, making questions about age-appropriate behaviour, parental oversight and AI safety particularly important.
2. Parental controls and risk assessments
A related measure requires parental controls on chatbot programs, along with other safety and risk assessments.
This suggests that California’s approach is broader than simply restricting access.
It also places emphasis on controls and risk management around AI systems used by young people.
3. AI-generated child sexual abuse material
Another measure expands criminal sanctions involving child sexual abuse material to include digitally altered or AI-generated content depicting a person under 18 engaged in sexual conduct.
The provision reflects the growing legal challenge created by generative AI, which can produce or alter digital content at increasing scale.
Why Is AI Chatbot Safety Part of the Same Debate?
Question → What connects social media regulation and AI chatbot regulation?
Both involve concerns about how technology interacts with young users and how product design can affect behaviour and safety.
Social media platforms use recommendation systems, autoplay and engagement mechanisms. AI companion systems, meanwhile, can interact directly with users through conversations.
That creates a different kind of relationship between the technology and the child.
California’s package therefore treats several technologies as part of a broader youth-safety question.
The state is not only examining what information children can access. It is also examining how technology is designed to interact with them.
This is increasingly relevant as AI systems become more conversational and personalised.
For students and young technology professionals, the policy direction offers an important lesson: building a technically impressive AI system is not enough. Developers may also need to think about age-appropriate design, parental controls, safety testing and foreseeable misuse.
What Is Adam’s Law and Why Does It Matter?
Question → Why was the legislation named “Adam’s Law”?
The package includes legislation known as “Adam’s Law,” named in memory of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide in April 2025. Reuters reported that his parents said he acted on suicidal thoughts that they believed were validated during months of conversations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The case has become part of the wider debate over the responsibilities of AI companies when young people interact with conversational systems.
OpenAI has said it intends to improve ChatGPT safeguards and has acknowledged that safeguards became “less reliable” as user interactions grow more prolonged, according to Reuters.
This context helps explain why the legislation covers both social media and AI chatbot technology.
The central concern is not identical across the two technologies. However, both involve systems that can become deeply embedded in a young person’s digital experience.
How Are California’s Rules Different From Other States?
Question → Is California the first U.S. state to regulate children’s social media use?
No. Reuters reported that Utah was the first state to adopt laws regulating children’s access to social media, followed by states including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Florida and New York. The approaches have varied.
California’s approach is therefore part of a larger U.S. movement.
However, California is placing particular attention on platform features associated with engagement and compulsive use.
The state has also joined a global trend.
Reuters reported that countries around the world have moved to restrict children’s access to harmful internet content, including Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16.
This means technology companies increasingly have to navigate different youth-safety requirements across jurisdictions.
| Approach | Main focus | Example from source |
| California | Restrict certain addictive platform features for under-16s | Infinite scrolling, algorithmic autoplay |
| Other U.S. states | Regulate children’s social media access | Utah and several other states |
| Australia | Restrict social media access for children under 16 | National approach |
| California AI rules | Address chatbot and AI-related risks | Chatbot toys, parental controls and safety assessments |
The comparison shows why the California social media restrictions are important beyond the state’s borders.
As more jurisdictions introduce youth-safety laws, technology companies may face pressure to develop products that can satisfy increasingly different regulatory requirements.
Why Are the New Rules Controversial?
Question → Does everyone support California’s new restrictions?
No. Although the legislation received broad bipartisan backing, critics argued that it could unnecessarily restrict young people’s internet access.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for example, called the bill “a massive privacy and free speech nightmare,” according to Reuters.
This highlights a major tension in technology regulation.
Policymakers want to protect children from potentially harmful technology design. But enforcing age-based restrictions can also create questions about privacy, speech and how platforms determine a user’s age.
The central policy trade-off
The debate can be simplified into two competing goals:
- Child safety: Reduce exposure to potentially harmful or compulsive technology features.
- Digital rights: Protect privacy, free expression and access to online services.
Neither side of the debate is purely technical.
The rules require decisions about what counts as harmful design, how age restrictions should be implemented and how companies should balance safety with users’ rights.
That is why the California social media restrictions are likely to remain part of a much larger technology-policy discussion.
What Could the California Social Media Restrictions Mean for Big Tech?
Question → Could California’s rules change how technology companies design products?
Potentially, yes. Companies may have to pay greater attention to how engagement features operate for younger users and how they demonstrate compliance with youth-safety requirements.
The impact could extend beyond social media.
If governments increasingly regulate design features associated with compulsive use, technology companies may have to assess engagement mechanisms during product development rather than treating safety as something added later.
For developers, that could mean considering questions such as:
- Is the feature appropriate for minors?
- Does it encourage unnecessary repeated engagement?
- Does the user have a clear stopping point?
- Can parents control access?
- Can the company identify and mitigate foreseeable risks?
- Does the product comply with applicable youth-safety rules?
These questions could become increasingly important as AI and social platforms become more personalised.
What Should Parents and Young Users Know?
Question → What is the practical takeaway for families?
The immediate takeaway is that California is taking a stronger regulatory approach toward technology features considered capable of encouraging compulsive use among children under 16.
For parents, the new rules also signal that parental controls and technology safety assessments are becoming a bigger part of the digital environment.
For teenagers, the important point is that regulation is increasingly focused on the architecture of digital products,not only the content appearing on screen.
For students and aspiring developers, there is another lesson.
Technology products are increasingly evaluated through three lenses:
- Functionality: Does the technology work?
- Business value: Does it solve a meaningful problem?
- Safety and responsibility: What happens when people actually use it?
The third question is becoming harder to ignore.
Why Does This Matter for AI and Technology Careers?
The California social media restrictions may look like a legal story, but they also have implications for people entering technology careers.
A new generation of developers will work on recommendation engines, AI assistants, social platforms, games, educational software and consumer applications.
Understanding technology safety can therefore be just as useful as understanding programming frameworks.
For example, a developer building an AI chatbot for young users may need to understand:
- Age-appropriate interaction design
- Content safety
- Parental controls
- Risk assessments
- Privacy requirements
- Responsible AI principles
- Platform engagement mechanics
The same applies to product managers, UX designers, data scientists and AI researchers.
As governments regulate technology more closely, responsible product design is becoming part of the technology skill set.
What Happens Next With California’s New Rules?
Question → Are the new laws the end of the debate?
Probably not.
The legislation itself indicates that some covered features will be defined through future regulations. That means implementation will be an important next stage.
Technology companies will need to understand how the rules apply to their products, while policymakers will need to determine how the restrictions can be enforced.
There will also likely be continuing debate about privacy, free speech and age verification.
California’s action could influence other jurisdictions as they consider their own technology rules.
Reuters noted that California joins a growing list of U.S. states pursuing restrictions on business strategies viewed as deliberately designed to hook teenagers on social media.
That makes California an important case study in the future of youth-focused technology regulation.
Key Takeaways: California’s New Technology Rules
The California social media restrictions represent a significant shift in how policymakers are approaching youth safety online.
Here are the most important points:
- Children under 16 are being protected from specified behaviorally addictive social media features.
- The targeted features include infinite scrolling and algorithmic autoplay.
- The rules were signed on September 10, 2026, as part of a package of 13 bills.
- California also enacted a four-year ban on manufacturing and selling toys incorporating companion chatbots.
- Related legislation requires parental controls and safety/risk assessments for chatbot programs.
- Another measure expands criminal sanctions involving certain AI-generated or digitally altered child sexual abuse material.
- Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have raised concerns about privacy and free speech.
- California is joining a broader movement among U.S. states and countries seeking stronger protections for children online.
The bigger story is not simply that California is restricting social media for children. It is that governments are increasingly examining the design of technology itself,from infinite feeds to AI companions,to determine whether certain features create unacceptable risks for young users.
FAQ: California Social Media Restrictions
What are California’s new social media restrictions?
California’s new rules restrict children under 16 from exposure to certain behaviorally addictive social media features. The legislation specifically identifies features such as infinite scrolling and algorithmic autoplay as examples of the technology designs covered.
Which social media features are targeted by California’s law?
California Assembly Bill 1709 targets psychologically exploitative features intended to maximize engagement and that foreseeably lead to compulsive use. The examples identified include infinite-scroll feeds and algorithmic autoplay, while additional features may be defined through future regulations.
Does California’s law ban children under 16 from all social media?
The source does not state that California has imposed a blanket ban on all social media access for children under 16. Instead, it says the law bars children under 16 from exposure to specified behaviorally addictive features on social media platforms.
What AI chatbot rules did California enact?
California enacted a four-year ban on the manufacture and sale of toys incorporating companion chatbots. A related measure requires parental controls on chatbot programs and other safety and risk assessments.
Why is Adam’s Law significant?
Adam’s Law was named in memory of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide in April 2025. Reuters reported that his parents said his suicidal thoughts were validated during months of conversations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, while OpenAI has said it intends to improve ChatGPT safeguards.
Are other states and countries regulating children’s social media use?
Yes. Reuters reported that Utah was the first U.S. state to adopt laws regulating children’s social media access, followed by states including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Florida and New York. Australia has also adopted a ban on social media for children under 16.
Final Takeaway
California’s new rules show how the debate around children’s technology use is evolving: policymakers are moving beyond content moderation and looking directly at product design, engagement mechanics and AI interactions. For technology companies and future developers, the message is clear,building technology that works is only part of the job; building technology that is safe and responsible for young users matters too.
Explore more AI, technology and digital-policy explainers on Kalinga.ai to understand how new regulations are shaping the products and careers of tomorrow.