Meta, TikTok, Google sue California over child online safety restrictions

Meta, TikTok and Google filed separate lawsuits against California over a new law seeking to tighten restrictions on child social media usage, arguing the legislation violates the companies’ First Amendment rights.

California’s bipartisan “ Digital Age Assurance Act ,” which goes into effect Jan. 1, bans social media platforms in the Sunshine State from providing “an addictive feed” to users under the age of 16. It also requires these companies “implement reasonable measures” to prevent minors from accessing such features.

The three companies argued the bill violates both the First Amendment and the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from being sued over third party content. However, the law, established in 1996, went into effect as social media was in its early infancy.

A spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said the office was reviewing the filings.

“Our office is committed to defending California’s commonsense laws to protect kids online,” the spokesperson said.

In Meta’s lawsuit , attorneys described the California law as an attempt to “appoint the State as the editor, curator and controller of online speech” and “override Meta’s editorial judgment about how to curate and display these billions of posts of third-party speech.”

According to The Associated Press , in TikTok’s filing, the company called the bill a “blatantly unconstitutional restriction on free expression that erodes the long-standing and protected practice of curating content based on user preferences, which bookstores, TV networks and streaming services all use.”

TikTok’s lawsuit went on to highlight the multiple safety measures it already has in place to protect young users.

Google, in its lawsuit , called on the state to defer restrictions on child social media usage to parents, referencing its own range of parental controls.

The legal challenge comes after tech company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, along with Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc. both settled lawsuits with teenagers alleging their platforms had adverse mental health effects. The two social media industry giants are also embroiled in a similar lawsuit in Los Angeles, in which plaintiffs allege their platforms are purposefully designed to be addictive.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the stand in this trial sometime in November.

The Los Angeles lawsuit targeted social media companies over the design of the platforms as opposed to the content.

Several tech industry leaders have agreed to multimillion dollar payouts to settle similar child online safety lawsuits.

In late August, Meta agreed to pay Texas more than $1 billion and pledged to add new restrictions to its platforms, such as blocking notifications during school hours and applying default daily time limits of two hours for users under the age of 18, which can only be lifted by a parent.