AB 1709 bans algorithmically addictive social media features for California users under 16 and creates a commission to study online harms to minors.
AB 1709 prohibits covered social media platforms from offering algorithmically addictive features — such as infinite scroll and autoplay — to California users under 16, and creates an e-Safety Advisory Commission to study online harms to minors. The California Attorney General is empowered to enforce the ban through civil penalties.
The American Council supports AB 1709 because platforms that engineer compulsive use in children are exploiting a vulnerability no child should have to withstand alone, and civil authority has a legitimate role in restraining that kind of corporate harm. Protecting young minds from manipulative design serves the same conviction that leads us to defend parents' authority over their children's upbringing: children need safeguards adults control, not algorithms that profit from their attention.
AB 1709 has been signed into law. On September 10, 2026, the Governor approved the bill, and it was chaptered by the Secretary of State as Chapter 183, Statutes of 2026.
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