California enacts new laws restricting addictive features for minors and tightening AI chatbot rules
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation that bans infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16, imposes fines on platforms that harm children, and requires risk assessments for AI chatbots.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills on Thursday that prohibit social-media platforms from using infinite scroll and autoplay features for users younger than 16, and introduce new safeguards for artificial-intelligence (AI) chatbots.
The measures, identified as AB 1709 among other statutes, also allow families to decline school-issued laptops, require AI operators to conduct risk assessments before deployment, and mandate parental-control settings and crisis-response protocols for companion chatbots. The chatbot legislation is named after Adam Raine, a teenager who died by suicide after interacting with a chatbot, according to his mother Maria Raine.
Violations of the social-media provisions could result in penalties of up to $1 million per child. The laws also expand child sexual-exploitation statutes to cover digitally altered and AI-generated sexual imagery of minors.
Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that the ban on certain features effectively restricts social-media access for minors and may limit their ability to engage in online communities. The governor’s office said the rules aim to address algorithm-driven scrolling and other engineering choices that contribute to excessive use.
The new AI framework requires the state to create a system for independent organizations to evaluate AI model safety and to maintain a registry of AI auditors. The legislation follows a recent settlement in which Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and implement usage limits for teen users in California and other states.