GoKawiilSocial media companies might soon be forced to remove the addictive features that keep teenagers online for hours on end — including the ubiquitous infinite scroll.
Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach, initially introduced Assembly Bill 1709 in February as a proposal that would prohibit children under 16 from using social media platforms that are designed to be dangerously addictive. But after deliberations over several hearings in the California Legislature between lawmakers, advocates and a prominent Big Tech lobby, all agreed that age-gating the internet could ultimately do more harm than good.
So, last month, Lowenthal amended his bill to instead require the companies, including behemoths like Meta and Reddit, to come up with an alternative, less addictive feed for underage users. If the companies can’t abide, then kids under 16 will be unable to make accounts on their platforms.
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“We’re not banning kids from riding skateboards when we tell them to use a helmet,” Lowenthal told SFGATE in a phone call last week. “The bill entails to ban social media from accessing young people if they are using these harmful features. The bill was never intended to block access, but it was to block predatory behavior.”
The bill text defines an “addictive feature” as “psychologically exploitative features intended to maximize engagement that foreseeably lead to compulsive use.” Under the revised proposal, companies will have until 2028 to adjust their platforms, Lowenthal said in a call with SFGATE. It would also create an oversight group composed of experts who will advise the California Attorney General’s Office.
The most recent version of the bill has been months in the making.
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Lowenthal told SFGATE he came up with the idea after a trip to Australia, where lawmakers implemented a first-of-its-kind social media ban for teenagers last year. Australians are now prohibited from having social media profiles until they reach age 16. Since Australia’s law went into effect, countries across Asia and Europe have announced similar plans to set an age limit on social media access.
But after originally proposing a de facto ban, Lowenthal heard from critics who argued a ban would isolate teenagers, particularly LGBTQ kids, who find resources and community online. Others argued that age verification could violate users’ data privacy. There were also questions raised about whether the bill could infringe on free speech rights. At an June 30 committee hearing, Lowenthal argued that “infinite scroll, auto play, recommended algorithms, and push notifications are product features. They are not speech.”
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