California Signs Sweeping Child-Safety Rules for Social Media and AI Chatbots

SACRAMENTO — California has enacted a broad package of laws intended to change how children encounter social media, companion chatbots and school-issued technology. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bipartisan measures Thursday, placing new duties on some of the largest technology companies and giving families additional control over digital products used at home and in classrooms. The package reaches beyond a single app or feature, treating online safety as a design responsibility rather than only a matter of parental supervision.

The most immediate social-media change prohibits platforms from offering users under 16 certain features associated with compulsive use, including autoplay and algorithmic feeds built from a person's history and profile. The laws also create potential civil penalties for large platforms found negligent in causing harm to children. The exact impact will depend on implementation and litigation, but California is clearly pressing companies to reconsider how engagement systems work for younger accounts rather than simply adding more warnings.

A separate measure known as Adam's Law strengthens rules for companion chatbots used by children. State materials say operators must create crisis protocols for conversations involving suicidal ideation, provide parental controls and notify parents when a child disables safety settings. Companies will also face independent child-safety audits and annual risk assessments. Those requirements bring testing and documentation into the product cycle before a system is widely deployed, where weaknesses can affect young users at scale.

The law is named for Adam Raine, a California teenager whose mother has said a chatbot played a role in the circumstances preceding his death. Her account has become part of a wider national debate about systems designed to simulate emotional companionship. A chatbot may sound attentive, patient and personal, but it does not possess human judgment or a duty of care. California's approach attempts to narrow that gap by requiring escalation procedures and clearer accountability.

The package also expands children's privacy protections. State officials said the laws restrict targeted advertising to minors and regulate how K-12 student data may be used in artificial-intelligence systems. Another provision lets families decline school-issued laptops, addressing a practical question that grew more urgent as districts made connected devices central to homework and instruction. These changes recognize that education technology can provide access while also collecting sensitive information about behavior, performance and identity.

For Los Angeles families, the rules touch daily life across schools, entertainment platforms and AI services. California's technology laws frequently reach beyond the state's borders because companies often prefer one nationwide product design to several state-specific versions. That influence is not automatic, however. Platforms can challenge laws, alter eligibility rules or build separate experiences. Regulators will need to explain how age is established without creating a new layer of intrusive identity collection.

Meta raised concerns about the restrictions on addictive feeds, arguing that the law could limit enjoyable content for younger users. That objection points to a genuine policy tradeoff. Recommendation systems can help teenagers find communities, artists and useful information, while the same systems can reward endless consumption and push increasingly intense material. The practical question is not whether ranking exists, but which signals it uses, how much control a young user has and what happens when risk appears.

The legislation arrives after several years of state-level experimentation. California has already passed measures involving children's privacy, social-media use and disclosure when a person is interacting with a chatbot rather than a human. Other states have pursued age limits and parental consent. The result is a rapidly changing map of obligations for platforms, with courts likely to examine how child protection, privacy and free-expression principles fit together.

Parents should not expect the statutes to make every online interaction safe. Product rules can reduce predictable hazards, but they cannot replace conversations about manipulation, privacy, harassment or emotional dependence. Schools and families will still need clear plans for reporting harmful behavior and responding when a child appears distressed. Companies, meanwhile, will be judged not only on published policies but on whether their systems identify risk quickly and consistently.

California's new laws set an ambitious standard, but enforcement will determine whether that standard becomes meaningful. Watch for effective dates, agency guidance, court challenges and changes to youth-account settings. The strongest measure of success will not be the number of bills signed. It will be whether children can use digital tools without being treated as an unlimited source of attention, data and revenue — and whether families receive timely help when technology stops being merely entertaining and becomes dangerous.