California is considering posting social media warning labels like those Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested last June. A bill introduced in the California legislature would require social media platforms to show users a black box warning that says social media use puts children and adolescents at risk of mental health harm. The box would appear when users first log on and once a week afterward. State Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat, is sponsoring the bill with support from Attorney General Rob Bonta. “If Congress wants to pass a bill and the president wants to sign it, fantastic, do it, but we’re not going to wait for it,” Bonta said at a press conference Monday. California has led in passing legislation to regulate social media companies. In September, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law creating tight rules for collecting and sharing kids’ data. The law requires features that protect kids from predators and lessen their risk for addiction and other harms. “This is California stepping up and doing what the federal government should also do, which is what Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, asked them to do,” Jim Steyer, a prominent civil rights attorney who founded the nonprofit Common Sense Media, said at the press conference. Steyer said he expects similar legislation in other states. Bonta is also suing Facebook parent Meta and TikTok, alleging these platforms inflicted harm on young users. Why it matters: Congress has lagged behind states in passing laws to protect kids from the potential negative impacts of social media use. In July, the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act by a 91-3 vote. But the bill has stalled in the House because of concerns that it violates free speech. On Saturday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) proposed updates to the bill to satisfy those concerns. President-elect Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and tech mogul Elon Musk, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Trump campaign, support the legislation. House Speaker Mike Johnson is so far unmoved. Even so: California’s rules have faced repeated lawsuits from the tech industry. The state’s age-appropriate design law, which would require tech companies to consider kids’ safety and privacy when designing platforms, has been held up while courts determine whether it violates free-speech protections. If the latest bill passes, Bonta expects NetChoice, a trade association for online businesses, to sue.
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