Earlier this week, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, enacted thirteen pieces of legislation aimed at online safety and technology regulation, signaling the state’s leadership in safeguarding young people online.
California, a state once brimming with optimism for a free and open internet, is now taking the forefront in online safety regulation nationwide. On Thursday, Newsom signed 13 bills into law “strengthening California’s nation-leading protections for children online.”
The measures will impose stricter regulations on AI chatbots, a moratorium on certain AI-enabled toys, and pricey penalties on social media platforms that knowingly harm children. One of the laws, Assembly Bill 1709, has been described by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) as a sprawling privacy and free-speech nightmare. The statute requires social media platforms to “implement reasonable measures to ensure that users under 16 years of age are not offered or provided any addictive feature on the covered platform.” While these provisions aim to shield minors, the EFF notes that their implementation could backfire, pushing firms toward age-gating methods to verify user ages.
In a letter urging Newsom to veto the legislation, the EFF warned that because the law “does not specify how verification should occur without requiring additional proof,” it may lead platforms to employ the most intrusive forms of age verification, such as uploading government-issued identification or biometric scanning. Violations could trigger civil penalties of up to $50,000 per affected minor for a knowing violation and up to $25,000 per minor for a negligent violation.
The measure also establishes an e-Safety Advisory Commission, an “expert body” tasked with researching and enforcing internet safety law. Although the statute notes that the commission exists for administrative purposes, it also states that the commission shall report “recommendations for legislative changes to enhance the protection of minors online” to the Legislature and the governor each year. These “experts” should possess specialized knowledge from a range of fields, including online safety, public health academia, marginalized youth advocacy, child psychology, and K-12 education. Unsurprisingly, First Amendment advocates and lawyers are not included on this list, as their expertise would likely impede the state’s regulatory agenda.
Common Sense Media founder and CEO Jim Steyer told The New York Times that Newsom’s newly signed laws “will set a standard for the whole nation.”
Steyer may well be proven right. State and federal lawmakers appear eager to adopt more restrictive online safety laws, as Americans from across the political spectrum say they want the government to shield young minds and eyeballs from alleged online harms. A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that a majority of Americans support banning social media for children under 16. The push to curb internet freedom is gaining popularity, even as negative experiences with online safety legislation abroad should deter Americans from expanding state power over the online realm. As Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown has reported, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act has effectively age-gated large swaths of the internet, “creating roadblocks for people who want to read about world news, see classic art, listen to music on Spotify, chat with friends on Discord, play video games, find information about quitting smoking, or join antimasturbation groups.”
Opponents of these laws need not revere Big Tech or even use social media or AI chatbots. While lawmakers contend that these apps are addictive and uncontrollable without government intervention, apps can be deleted, and families and individuals can choose how to use the internet. A socially driven anti-tech movement is not the same as a government-imposed censorship regime. Regrettably, California lawmakers appear to misunderstand this distinction and have taken steps that could diminish online freedom for all users.
