California passes laws to shield children online
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Meta recently agreed to pay 18 billion dollars to settle legal action from multiple states, and now the company, along with all other businesses based in California, must follow new laws signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
These laws aim to protect children online by establishing requirements and prohibitions for digital platforms. The state acted because the United States lacks federal laws comparable to those in Europe, like the Digital Services Act, so individual states have created their own regulations.
Thirteen bipartisan laws now strengthen safety measures for AI chatbots. One law, supported by OpenAI, requires strong protections for chatbots used by children, including crisis protocols for suicidal thoughts, parental controls, and safety setting notifications. These chatbots will also undergo independent safety audits and annual risk assessments. Another new law prohibits social media platforms from offering features that create addiction for users under 16 years old.
This includes automatic video playback, endless scrolling, and algorithmic feeds based on user data, and will require age verification. However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes these laws will be ineffective and will force users to share personal data. Beyond chatbots and addictive features, the laws also ban the use of AI to create or alter material exploiting children and restrict the use of children’s data for targeted advertising.
The European Commission recently found Meta violated the Digital Services Act with similar features on Facebook and Instagram.
