Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association is urging California lawmakers to reconsider key provisions in two proposed bills, AB 2 and AB 56, designed to regulate how social media platforms interact with minors. While CCIA supports efforts to protect children online, the current language in both bills poses serious risks to digital privacy, free expression, and the competitive landscape of the tech industry.
AB 2 would impose broad liability on platforms for the features and tools that enable users to interact, even when the platforms have no knowledge or control over how these tools are used. The bill’s vague standard of “ordinary care and skill” could lead to a wave of frivolous lawsuits and incentivize removal of critical protections like end-to-end encryption. This would not only weaken user privacy but also expose young people to increased risks of surveillance and data breaches. Additionally, AB 2 conflicts with federal law, particularly Section 230, which protects platforms from liability for user-generated content.
AB 56, meanwhile, mandates warning labels and time-tracking mechanisms for social media use among minors. These one-size-fits-all requirements raise First Amendment concerns and would create significant technical and financial burdens, especially for small and mid-sized platforms. Rather than empowering families, the bill could shift control away from parents and onto the state, without delivering meaningful safety improvements for children online.
The following statement can be attributed to Aodhan Downey, State Policy Manager for CCIA:
“California lawmakers should prioritize the safety of children online, but AB 2 and AB 56 miss the mark. These bills open the door to frivolous lawsuits, weaken privacy protections like encryption, and risk silencing speech online. We should be supporting solutions that work, like parental controls and digital literacy programs, not policies that compromise privacy or punish responsible platforms. We urge lawmakers to reconsider these bills and focus on measures that genuinely help families.”
