California’s new legislative session is off to a start and state lawmakers have already introduced two bills to regulate social media platforms and their impact on children.
Assembly Bill 2 by Assembly member Josh Lowenthal of Long Beach would make social platforms liable would make social platforms liable for the harm they may cause to minors through civil penalties. Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of San Ramon also introduced Assembly Bill 56 to require warning labels for social media, a policy the U.S. Surgeon General advocated for earlier this year.
Lowenthal said he is uniquely qualified to bring forth legislation imposing further regulations on social media companies. The lawmaker is a former tech executive and the father of three girls.
“I see the pitfalls,” Lowenthal said. “I have a laboratory right in front of me with them and I'm deeply concerned about their development.”
Lowenthal ran the same bill last year but it stalled after pushback from the tech industry. In an opposition letter, the industry argued the potential harms for children were too ambiguous in the bill.
Lowenthal hopes this year will be different.
“We need a duty of care that's provided by social media companies, the same level that we have for all consumer products that our young people are using,” Lowenthal said.
The bills mark the newest efforts to regulate the tech industry in its home state, where it heavily influences state policy.
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