Meta is challenging California’s new restrictions on children’s social media. The Facebook and Instagram owner has joined Google and TikTok in filing separate lawsuits seeking to block a law targeting features that could encourage compulsive use among users younger than 16. The legal challenge comes months after Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion and introduce stronger protections for teenagers under settlements with nearly all US states. Those agreements addressed claims involving children’s use of Facebook and Instagram.According to a report by The New York Times, the latest dispute centres on whether California can restrict personalised recommendations and autoplay videos to protect children, or whether those restrictions interfere with the companies’ constitutional rights to organise and present content.
What California’s law would restrict
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1709 in September. The law targets what it calls “psychologically exploitative features” that could cause children to check social media compulsively, including personalised recommendations and videos that play automatically.It would require platforms to prevent users younger than 16 from accessing those features, with penalties for non-compliance. It also provides for deleting children’s accounts that retain the prohibited features.The law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, unless a court intervenes. Google, Meta and TikTok filed their separate challenges on Wednesday, the report claims.
Why the companies are challenging the restrictions
The companies argue the law violates the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which broadly shields online platforms from liability for user-posted content.Meta spokesman Edward Patterson said the law would allow the government to “dictate how ideas are organised, displayed or shared with Californians,” and undermine the company’s ability to recommend age-appropriate content to children.Google said YouTube already restricted some features for minors, including autoplay on children’s accounts, and allowed parents to disable its short-form video feed, Shorts.“We believe parents are best positioned to make the right decisions for their families, which is why we offer a range of protections and tools that put parents in control,” said José Castañeda, a Google spokesman.TikTok said in its lawsuit that choosing which videos to show involved “editorial discretion” protected by free-speech rights.
Supporters question the companies’ free-speech argument
Supporters of the legislation argue that the challenge is about preserving features that keep young users engaged.“Meta, Google and TikTok’s business models rely on keeping kids and teens scrolling, and now they’re claiming that protecting those features is a matter of free speech,” said Brooke Istook, chief executive of the Heat Initiative, a tech-accountability advocacy organisation. “What’s really at stake is their ability to keep profiting from addictive designs that put kids at risk every day.”California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it was reviewing the lawsuits and remained committed to defending the state’s online child-protection laws.