California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a series of bills aimed at protecting minors from potentially harmful effects of social media and AI chatbots, marking one of the most extensive state-level pushes yet to regulate how tech platforms engage with young users. The rules impose new obligations on both AI chatbot developers and social media companies, but they have drawn criticism from digital rights groups who argue the measures could restrict teenagers' access to online spaces and raise privacy concerns rather than improve safety.

Under the new laws, AI chatbot makers must introduce time limits for teenage users, provide mental health resources, follow safety protocols when minors discuss self-harm, notify parents if a child disables safety settings, and undergo independent child safety audits and annual risk assessments, with legal liability for non-compliance. Separately, social media firms are barred from offering "addictive features," such as autoplay, notifications and algorithm-driven feeds, to users under 16 — a measure the Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticised as a de facto ban that could also force wider disclosure of personal data for age verification. Additional bills broaden the definition of child sexual exploitation to cover AI-generated or digitally altered images, restrict targeted advertising to minors, and regulate how AI systems handle data on K-12 students.