The companies argue that the statute wrongly compels them to adopt California's preferred means of presenting content to children and substitutes the state's judgment for that of parents.
Three of the world's largest social media companies have opened a legal front against California over its attempt to regulate how children use their platforms. According to The Guardian, Google, Meta and TikTok filed separate lawsuits on Wednesday seeking to block enforcement of Assembly Bill 1709, a state law intended to limit the risk of addicting children under 16 to social media.
The law prohibits platforms from offering underage users what it calls "psychologically exploitative features" that could lead to compulsive use, including personal recommendations and autoplay of videos. It also requires the deletion of children's accounts that carry such features. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the measure on 10 September, saying children's safety should be central to any discussion about technology and that California "will not stand by while unregulated technology puts our children at risk". The law is due to take effect on 1 January 2027 unless a judge voids it or puts it on hold.
The companies argue that the statute wrongly compels them to adopt California's preferred means of presenting content to children and substitutes the state's judgment for that of parents. They say it violates First Amendment free speech protections and Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which broadly shields online platforms from liability over user content. A Google spokesperson, Jose Castaneda, said parents are best positioned to make decisions for their families and that "overly broad laws like this actually break the systems we've built to help kids find high-quality, age-appropriate videos". Meta said California cannot override its editorial judgments about how to curate and display billions of posts. TikTok said protected speech "cannot be suppressed solely to protect the young from ideas or images that a legislative body thinks unsuitable".
The office of Rob Bonta, the California attorney general and the only named defendant, said on Thursday that it is reviewing the lawsuits and is "committed to defending California's commonsense laws to protect kids online". The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, also criticised the law, calling it "a massive privacy and free speech nightmare". The filings were lodged in federal court in San Jose by Google, in San Francisco by Meta and in Los Angeles by TikTok.
The case sits within a wider wave of regulation. Many US states regulate children's access to social media, and other countries have adopted similar restrictions, including Australia's ban on social media for children under 16. In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18bn and limit teenagers' use of Facebook and Instagram under agreements with nearly all US states. The companies and Snap still face thousands of lawsuits from individuals, school districts and municipalities claiming they sought to addict children.
What the litigation does not yet establish is how a court will weigh the state's interest in protecting minors against the companies' speech claims, or whether the law will be paused before it takes effect. No ruling has been reported, and the attorney general's substantive response is not yet public. The outcome will shape how far states can go in redesigning platforms for young users, and whether the parental-authority argument mounted by the companies gains traction beyond California.
