California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law new restrictions targeting technology companies, including measures barring children under 16 from being exposed to addictive features on social media platforms and banning toys equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) companion chatbots.
The measures were among 13 bills signed by Newsom on Thursday as part of a legislative package aimed at protecting young people from technology-related risks and strengthening online privacy safeguards for minors.
Another measure expands criminal sanctions relating to child sexual abuse material to cover digitally altered or AI-generated content depicting anyone under 18 engaged in sexual conduct.
A separate law bans the manufacture and sale of toys incorporating companion chatbots for four years, while a related measure requires parental controls on chatbot programmes and additional safety and risk assessments.
Newsom described the regulations as the most far-reaching of their kind in the United States.
One of the measures, known as “Adam’s Law”, was named in memory of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who died in April 2025 after, according to his parents, acting on suicidal thoughts they said had been reinforced during months of conversations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
OpenAI has said it intends to strengthen ChatGPT’s safeguards and acknowledged that its protections became “less reliable” as user interactions became more prolonged.
“We want our children – and every California kid – to grow up in a world where technology supports their wellbeing, rather than exploits their vulnerabilities,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the measures.
California, home to major technology companies including Google, Meta Platforms and Snap, joins a growing number of US states seeking to restrict business practices considered designed to encourage excessive social media use among teenagers.
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The measures have received broad bipartisan support, although critics have argued that they could unnecessarily restrict young people’s access to the internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation described the legislation as “a massive privacy and free speech nightmare”.
Utah was the first US state to enact laws regulating children’s access to social media, followed by states including Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Florida and New York, although the approaches differ.
Social Media Features Targeted
Under Assembly Bill 1709, California will prohibit children under 16 from being exposed to certain “psychologically exploitative features intended to maximise engagement that foreseeably lead to compulsive use”.
The restrictions cover features such as infinite-scroll feeds and algorithmic autoplay, while other features could be included through future regulations.
The law comes as major technology companies face increasing legal pressure over the impact of their platforms on children and teenagers.
Meta agreed three weeks ago to pay as much as $18 billion over the next decade and impose tighter restrictions on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram under a settlement with nearly all US states over claims that the company designed its platforms to encourage addictive use among children.
