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Social media and children: Meta, Google and TikTok are suing California

by Alessandro Longo

9 November 2026

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3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Meta, Google and TikTok have taken legal action against California to block a law which, from 1 January 2027, will prevent social media platforms from offering personalised feeds and autoplay videos to under-16s. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1709, targets the mechanisms that keep users glued to their screens. This marks the start of a battle over platforms’ control over their own products, in California as well as in Europe.

Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September, Bill AB 1709 allows young people to keep an account on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, but without those features. Platforms unable to disable them will be required to delete minors’ profiles and the associated data. Endless scrolling is listed amongst the risks highlighted by the legislator, although it is not expressly prohibited – at least for the time being.

Fines can reach $50,000 for each minor involved in a deliberate breach and $25,000 for negligence. To distinguish between adults and minors, the regulation relies on the Californian age verification system, which is also based on signals transmitted by operating systems and app stores.

The lawsuits, filed in three different federal courts, challenge the legality of the bans. The companies invoke the First Amendment: curating and organising content, they argue, is an editorial decision protected by freedom of expression. They also cite Section 230, which limits their liability for user-generated content, and the right of parents to make decisions. Attorney General Rob Bonta has announced that he will defend the law.

The requirement has an impact on social media platforms’ business models: algorithmic recommendations and autoplay increase the amount of content viewed, the time spent on the services and the opportunities to display adverts. To comply with the law, companies will have to distinguish between the experience of minors and that of adults, thereby foregoing some of the tools they use to generate engagement and revenue.

The battle follows the agreement worth up to 17.1 billion dollars reached in August between Meta and a coalition of US states. The allegations also concerned the design of Facebook and Instagram, which was deemed to encourage compulsive use amongst teenagers. The agreement provides for time limits, night-time blocks and age verification. Meta is now contesting that California can also legally dictate how the feeds operate.

Other countries are exploring different approaches. From December 2025, Australia will require social media platforms to prevent under-16s from creating accounts. The European Commission, through the EU Kids Act presented in September, proposes to ban social media for children under 13, allow 13- to 14-year-olds only to have profiles supervised by their parents, and restrict features that encourage excessive use for all under-18s, such as notifications – particularly at night or during school hours – and, indeed, endless scrolling. The text has yet to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

In Italia, Bill 1136 on the protection of minors online is still before a Senate committee, but the Government, in agreement with the EU, has already made it clear that the bill will not proceed because it prefers to wait for the EU legislation. The Californian dispute highlights an important point, not only for families but also for business: the clash between institutions and companies now centres on the fundamental characteristics of social media platforms – the very features that have made them such a huge commercial success.

The similarity between California and Europe in this regard may mean that, at least as far as children are concerned, significant changes are likely in the near future regarding the way social media operates and generates revenue.

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Social media and children: Meta, Google and TikTok are suing California

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