Google, Meta and TikTok Sue to Block California’s New Youth Social Media Law
Google, Meta and TikTok filed separate federal lawsuits challenging California’s Assembly Bill 1709, a law restricting addictive online features for children under 16. ABC7 and Reuters, published by GMA News, reported the filings Thursday.
By the Bay Area Brief staff · Edited by Seamus McKenna · · 2 min read
Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco. Photo: Marincyclist / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped, resized and color-graded). Archive photo of the area; not a photo of the events in this story.
Google, Meta and TikTok filed separate federal lawsuits challenging California’s Assembly Bill 1709, a law restricting addictive online features for children under 16. ABC7 and Reuters, published by GMA News, reported the filings Thursday.
The law is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2027. It targets features including personalized recommendations and autoplay and requires measures to keep younger users from accessing the restricted features.
The companies argue the law violates the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office told ABC7 it was reviewing the filings and remained committed to defending laws protecting children online. Filing suit does not itself block a law; that requires a court order or other legal action.
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Ofcom recommended photo-ID matching, banking checks, face-age estimation, and digital ID ahead of a March ban that will block under-16s from major platforms, the BBC reported.
Irreplaceable Education Fund, Public Citizen, Heat Initiative and the Alliance for Secure AI filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court, invoking California's Unfair Competition Law. They asked a judge to halt further development of advanced models, citing alleged safety risks. The companies' responses were not included in the announcement.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Instagram head Adam Mosseri are expected to testify. Plaintiffs' lawyers say the trial could run until mid-December.
Menlo Park-based Meta has settled with both teen plaintiffs in the Los Angeles social media addiction trial. It settled with K.D.B. on Friday, a day after settling with S.J. Terms are confidential. Snap is now the only defendant, with opening arguments set for Nov. 4.
Google said schools that disable AI Overviews will lose Google Search altogether, NPR reported. Districts including Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City have moved to limit classroom AI, and lawmakers have criticized the all-or-nothing policy.
