California enacts new curbs on social media for children

LOS ANGELES — California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Thursday new tech company restrictions barring children under 16 from exposure to behaviorally addictive features on social media platforms and banning toys containing AI companion chatbots.

The two measures were among 13 bills Newsom enacted as a package designed to safeguard young people from technology seen as putting them at risk, including greater online privacy protection for minors.

Another measure expanded the scope of criminal sanctions against child sexual abuse material to include any digitally altered or AI-generated content that depicts a person under the age of 18 engaged in sexual conduct.

A separate measure bans, for the next four years, the manufacture and sale of toys that incorporate a companion chatbot. A related measure requires parental controls on chatbot programs, along with other safety and risk assessments.

Newsom touted those regulations as the most far-reaching of their kind in the nation. The bill was dubbed “Adam’s Law,” in memory of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who took his own life in April 2025 after he acted, according to his parents, on suicidal thoughts validated in months of discussion with OpenAI’s ChatGPT program.

OpenAI has said it intends to…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business