Late Tuesday night, a federal judge blocked technology lobbying group NetChoice's challenge to California's recently enacted law SB 976, which prohibits companies from providing “addictive feeds” to minors.
As a result of the decision, starting Wednesday, companies will be prohibited from providing addictive feeds to California-based users known to be underage unless they have explicit parental consent. That will happen. SB 976 defines an addictive feed as an algorithm that selects and recommends content based on a user's behavior rather than the user's explicit preferences.
Starting in January 2027, companies will be required to use “age assurance technology” such as age estimation models to determine whether a user is underage and adjust their feed accordingly.
In November, NetChoice, whose members include Meta, Google, and X, filed a lawsuit seeking an outright ban on SB 976, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment. The judge denied the request for an injunction, but blocked other elements of the law, including limits on night notifications for minors.
New York state passed a similar bill in June.