California Gov. Newsom signed a package of social media and chatbot protections on September 10 that his office describes as the strongest in the country, including the nation’s first requirements for independent child safety audits and annual risk assessments for companion chatbots.
The measures include AB 1709, which prohibits Social Media companies from offering addictive features to users under 16. That covers autoplay and algorithmic feeds built around a user’s history and profile.
“Innovation comes with responsibility and protecting our children comes first,” Newsom said.
At the center of the bill is SB 1119, dubbed Adam’s Law after Adam Raine, the teenager whose parents are suing OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT played a role in encouraging his suicide in 2025. Under the measure, companies would need to conduct risk assessments before rolling out new or significantly updated companion chatbots and submit to independent compliance audits.
The bill’s authors say operators would be required to rely on age-bracket signals passed down through operating systems. By default, protections would include usage limits, disabled notifications, and caps on persistent conversational memory – with only parents able to change those settings.
Companies can also be held liable if they fail to take reasonable measures to prevent harmful outputs, such as sexual content, romantic roleplay, and emotional manipulation that encourages children to distance themselves from friends and family. Separate requirements cover crisis support and parental notification in cases involving credible threats of imminent self-harm.
Families harmed by violations of these protections would have the right to sue. Operators would also be required to report incidents, and findings from independent audits would go directly to the California Attorney General.
“We cannot make the same mistakes that were made with social media,” said Senator Steve Padilla.
Last year, 44 state attorneys general put AI companies on notice, warning they’d be held accountable for harm done to children. The warning came on the heels of reports that Meta’s internal chatbot guidelines had allowed romantic exchanges with minors. Meta responded by saying the offending sections had been removed and didn’t reflect its actual policies.
Meta pushed back on the new feed restrictions. The company argues that personalization helps it provide teenagers with relevant, age-appropriate content, according to the Associated Press.
Spokesperson Jim Cullinan explained, “Personalization is also how we deliver age-appropriate content for teens that is relevant to them – all with the proper guardrails in place.”
The package also restricts targeted advertising directed at children and limits the use of school pupil data in AI systems. Families will additionally have the option to opt out of school-issued laptops.
This all comes right after two other AI oversight laws got approved on September 9. SB 813 sets up a way for independent organizations to check whether AI systems are actually following state law, and AB 1405 creates a registry of AI auditors, plus rules to make sure they stay independent.
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