California Governor Signs Law Aimed at Protecting Children’s Online Privacy

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law a bill aimed at protecting the well-being, data, and privacy of children online.

The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act(Opens in a new window) (AB 2273) requires online platforms to consider “the best interest of child users” and default to privacy and safety settings “that protect children’s mental and physical health and well-being.”

Introduced by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo), the bill prohibits online providers likely accessed by children (most social media sites, gamemakers, streaming platforms, etc.) from using young people’s personal information; collecting, selling, or retaining geolocations; profiling by default; and leading or encouraging kids to provide personal information.

“We’re taking aggressive action in California to protect the health and wellbeing of our kids,” Newsom said in a statement(Opens in a new window). “As a father of four, I’m familiar with the real issues our children are experiencing online, and I’m thankful to Assemblymembers Wicks and Cunningham and the tech industry for pushing these protections and putting the wellbeing of our kids first.”

The bipartisan legislation also requires that tech companies make privacy information, terms of service, policies, and community standards easily accessible, and provide responsive tools to help children “exercise their privacy rights.” The Children’s Data Protection Working Group will deliver a report on best practices to the state legislature by January 2024.

“As the mom of two young girls, I am personally motivated to ensure that Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies redesign their products in children’s best interest,” Wicks said.

“We still have more work to do to address the youth mental health crisis,” Cunningham adds.

“In particular, we know that certain Big Tech social media companies design their products to addict kids, and a significant number of those kids suffer serious harm as a result,” he says, citing depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and eating disorders. “Protecting kids online is not only common sense, it will save lives.”

Amid public blowback over kids’ overuse of social media apps, some have made changes.

Last year, Instagram said that those under 16 who sign up for the app will be defaulted to private accounts, while existing accounts will see notifications urging them to consider going private. More recently, it said it will ask teenage users to review their privacy settings as part of its ongoing effort to make it safer for younger people to use its platform.

Also last year, TikTok limited push notifications for those aged 13-15 after 9 p.m. and for those aged 16-17 after 10 p.m. It also turned off direct messaging for those aged 16-17 by default.

A Meta spokesperson tells Axios(Opens in a new window) the company thinks the bill is an “important development” but has a few issues with certain provisions and favors industry standards.

Cunningham and Wicks, meanwhile, previously introduced a bill aimed at stopping social networks from causing addiction in young people by using or selling their personal data. But it was killed last month amid heavy lobbying pressure from social firms.

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