San Jose, Calif. – A federal judge in California has partially blocked a new state law intended to protect minors from potential harms on social media. This action comes after a lawsuit from NetChoice, a tech industry lobbying group, asserting that the law threatens free speech rights.
The litigation centers around Senate Bill 976, known as the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, which was approved in September last year. It aims to restrict social media platforms from delivering addictive content to young users without parental consent.
U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila ruled to allow the majority of the bill’s provisions to proceed but halted two specific sections. These included restrictions on sending notifications to minors during night hours and a requirement that social media companies report the number of minors using their platforms.
Filed in November by NetChoice, whose members include major technology firms like Amazon, Google, and Meta, the lawsuit argued that the full scope of the bill violates the First Amendment.
In his 34-page decision, Judge Davila emphasized that some parts of the bill appeared to infringe upon First Amendment rights, leading him to partially grant NetChoice’s request for a preliminary injunction. Davila highlighted inconsistencies, noting how a sports update from a site like ESPN could be delivered irrespective of time restrictions that would prevent a similar update from social media platforms.
Davila was particularly critical of the requirement for platforms to disclose user ages, questioning the effectiveness of this measure in curbing social media use among minors.
Despite these objections, the judge rejected NetChoice’s broader request to halt the entire bill, approving measures that introduce additional parental controls and adapt personalized feeds for underage users. These changes, set to be enforced from January 2027, mandate platforms to use “age assurance” techniques to identify if a user is a minor and modify the user’s feed to reduce addictive content.
The ruling ensures that while some sections of the bill are frozen pending a full trial, significant portions will be enacted, reflecting the ongoing legal and ethical debates surrounding children’s safety on social media.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision to implement the majority of the provisions, emphasizing the importance of the legislative measure in empowering California families.
The case comes amid broader scrutiny of social media companies and their impact on younger audiences. Just last year, another federal judge in Oakland ruled that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was not personally liable in a series of lawsuits alleging harms caused by social media platforms.
The ongoing legal proceedings are expected to further define the balance between protecting minors online and preserving free speech.
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