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By KPIX
PublishedAugust 23, 20265:21 pm
California lawmakers could pass a first-in-the-nation ban on social media accounts for children under 16 and add $1 million fines on the <a href="https://myappsplus.com/tech-industry-leverages-us-china-tensions-to-shield-itself-from-regulation/” title=”Tech Industry Leverages US-China Tensions To Shield Itself From Regulation”>tech industry.
The device time dilemma for parents and teens is now turning into a battle between lawmakers and tech companies, including heartbreaking testimony.
“Before Coco died, we watched social media take more and more of her from us,” parent Juliana Arnold said.
Arnold described the toll social media took on her daughter before her death from a fentanyl overdose, drugs she got from a man she met online.
“The product kept pulling her back and parental controls just didn’t work,” Arnold said. “They did not suffice.”
“So this is not a Republican or Democratic issue,” said Jim Steyer, the founder of Common Sense Media.
Steyer is also a sponsor of three proposed laws to crack down on social media use by children in California that would ban anyone under 16 from creating a social media account, allow social media companies to be fined up to $1 million and prohibit artificial intelligence chatbots from producing or displaying self-harm.
“At the end of the day, we saw this happen with tobacco,” Steyer said. “I think we’re now starting to see this with big tech. The public, in a bipartisan way, is standing up.”
Tech companies are pushing back against the proposed laws, issuing a statement through the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
“Faced with significant litigation risk and penalties of up to $1 million per violation, platforms will be incentivized to over-restrict content, limit services for young users, and potentially weaken privacy protections,” the statement read.
The new proposed laws would stop children under 16 from having access to addictive features like infinite scrolling and would prevent videos from playing automatically to capture teens’ attention.
Lawmakers have until the end of the week to pass these changes and get them to the governor’s desk for a signature. If that happens, the new rules will go into effect on Jan. 1.
