Three of the biggest names in tech are taking California to court over a law designed to keep kids off the most addictive parts of social media. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)'s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. (META) and ByteDance's TikTok filed separate lawsuits Wednesday challenging California Assembly Bill 1709, according to The Guardian.
The companies are leaning on two familiar legal shields: the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally protects platforms from liability for content posted by their users.
Meta's argument, in essence, is that California can't restrict its editorial decisions while letting rival platforms offer similar services. TikTok took a broader swing, saying that protected speech "cannot be suppressed solely to protect the young" from content lawmakers deem unsuitable, the report noted.
Rob Bonta, California's attorney general and the lawsuits' sole defendant, said his office was reviewing the filings. "Our office is committed to defending California's commonsense laws to protect kids online," Bonta said, according to the report.
A spokesperson for the Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta told the New York Times that the law would let the government "dictate how ideas are organized, displayed or shared," while limiting Meta's ability to recommend age-appropriate content and forcing it to remove related features.
Google, meanwhile, pointed to safeguards it has already rolled out for minors on YouTube, including disabling autoplay on children's accounts and letting parents turn off Shorts. A spokesperson told the NYT the company has been proactive on this front.
Meta, Google, and TikTok did not immediately respond to MarketDash's request for comments.
What California's Law Actually Does
The lawsuits land after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation in September. The law targets children under 16, aiming to shield them from addictive social media features while strengthening safeguards around companion AI chatbots. It also lays out crisis-response guidelines for chatbots that handle suicidal tendencies and adds parental controls, pushing California's tech oversight well beyond traditional social platforms.
The legislation goes further still. It expands child sexual exploitation laws to cover AI-generated or digitally altered explicit content involving minors. It bans addictive social media features for children under 16. And it imposes a four-year ban on AI chatbot-powered toys for children.
The Regulatory Walls Are Closing In
This is hardly the first time the tech giants have found themselves in the legal crosshairs over child safety. In August, Meta reached a broad settlement with 29 U.S. states requiring teen usage limits, nighttime restrictions, stronger age verification and expanded parental controls across Facebook and Instagram. The deal includes up to $17 billion tied to state claims, with Meta estimating total payments of about $18 billion over 10 years, including a separate $1 billion Texas settlement.
More recently, Meta, TikTok and Elon Musk's X lost their legal challenge against U.K. regulator Ofcom over information requests seeking data on content moderation, harmful content exposure and posts removed or restricted under the Online Safety Act.
And in September, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the AFT and UFT agreed on a new AI safety and privacy standard for schools, establishing legally enforceable protections against student data misuse, tracking and AI-driven decisions without human oversight. School districts can incorporate the requirements into Microsoft contracts.
Price Action: Year-to-date, Meta and Alphabet's Class C (GOOG) have declined 8.33% and 10.22%, respectively, as per market data.
