California Expands Government Overreach: New Laws Clamp Down on Tech Innovation and Parental Rights
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Governor Gavin Newsom has signed sweeping legislation that bans popular features like infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16, threatens tech companies with massive fines, and imposes burdensome regulations on AI chatbots, further eroding parental authority and stifling innovation.
In yet another example of California’s relentless march toward government overreach, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills on Thursday that will severely restrict how social-media platforms and AI developers operate. These new laws ban widely used features such as infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16, and introduce a slew of new regulations that threaten to stifle innovation and undermine parental rights.
Among the measures, including AB 1709, are provisions that allow families to opt out of school-issued laptops—potentially hindering educational opportunities—while forcing AI operators to conduct costly risk assessments before deploying their products. The laws also require intrusive parental-control settings and crisis-response protocols for companion chatbots, all under the guise of protecting children. The chatbot legislation, named after Adam Raine, a teenager who tragically died by suicide after interacting with a chatbot, is being used to justify sweeping new controls on technology.
Violations of these social-media provisions could result in draconian penalties of up to $1 million per child, threatening the viability of tech companies and driving innovation out of the state. The laws also expand child sexual-exploitation statutes to cover digitally altered and AI-generated sexual imagery of minors, further increasing the regulatory burden on platforms.
Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, warn that these bans effectively restrict social-media access for minors and may limit their ability to participate in online communities—yet the governor’s office continues to push for more control, citing concerns about algorithm-driven scrolling and so-called excessive use. This is yet another example of Sacramento politicians inserting themselves into family decisions and private enterprise.
The new AI framework mandates a state-run system for independent organizations to evaluate AI model safety and maintain a registry of AI auditors, adding more bureaucracy and red tape. This legislation comes on the heels of a recent settlement in which Meta was forced to pay up to $18 billion and implement usage limits for teen users in California and other states, sending a chilling message to innovators everywhere.