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Google, Meta, and TikTok have filed separate lawsuits to block a California law designed to protect children from social media risks, arguing it violates their First Amendment rights.
The law, which goes into effect on 1 January 2027, bans tech companies from offering addictive feeds, endless scrolling and auto-played videos to children under 16.
They must also implement “reasonable measures” to make sure those under 16 are not given access to addictive features by verifying users’ ages. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into state law in September.
The companies each filed their lawsuits in federal courts in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose, California.
In addition to the First Amendment, TikTok, Meta and Google argue that the law violates Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their sites by their users.
The lawsuits come as tech companies face increasing scrutiny over their platforms’ harms to children, including thousands of lawsuits by schools, governments and individual plaintiffs in the US and around the world. Big Tech is also being fought in European courtrooms in France, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands.
In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion (€16 billion) and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement in the US that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by nearly every one of the 48 states involved.
The settlement resolved a pivotal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining children’s mental health, targeting features alleged to be designed to hook young people’s attention.
In September, TikTok settled with Alabama over addictive features.
The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the defendant in each of the lawsuits, said on Thursday, 2 November, it was reviewing the filings and that it was committed to defending state laws to protect kids online.
TikTok called the law “a blatantly unconstitutional restriction on free expression that erodes the long-standing and protected practice of curating content based on user preferences, which bookstores, TV networks and streaming services all use.”
The company said it has implemented numerous safety measures for kids on its platform, adding that beyond “disregarding real progress in making teens safer online, this law limits free speech and takes away parents’ rights to determine what’s appropriate for their kids”.
Meta said the law violates the First Amendment “by letting the government dictate how ideas are organised, displayed, or shared with Californians”.
“Under the law, we would be forced to either remove features that keep teens’ experiences age-appropriate, or cut thousands of California teens off from family, friends, and their communities,” the company said in a statement.
Google said it believes parents are in the best position to make decisions for their families and that it offers a range of parental control tools and protections.
“Overly broad laws like this actually break the systems we’ve built to help kids find high-quality, age-appropriate videos,” said Google spokesman José Castañeda.