Google, Meta and TikTok sue California over child social-media law

The law is identified as Assembly Bill 1709 by Engadget and The Guardian. It restricts platforms from offering children under 16 features described as psychologically exploitative or addictive. The companies argue that the restrictions violate free-expression or First Amendment protections, putting the California measure at the center of a dispute over how far the state can regulate platform design for minors.

The Guardian describes the targeted features as including personalized recommendations and video autoplay, saying they could contribute to compulsive use by minors. The same report says the law requires deletion of children’s accounts that use those features. Those provisions would affect functions that are built into the way major platforms select and deliver content to young users.

Google has argued in its lawsuit that the measure could prohibit YouTube functions including its recommendation system and autoplay, according to Deadline. The claim illustrates the companies’ broader position that rules aimed at limiting harmful or compulsive use also reach ordinary mechanisms for organizing and presenting content.

The Hill reports that the law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. The lawsuits therefore challenge the measure before the reported implementation date, although the supplied reports do not establish the court names, case numbers or details of any requested injunction.

The legislation’s name remains an unresolved point in the supplied coverage: Engadget and The Guardian call it Assembly Bill 1709, while The Hill calls it the Digital Age Assurance Act. The reports describe compatible child-safety restrictions, but the available evidence does not establish whether those are formal alternative names for exactly the same enactment.