California Wants to Regulate Social Media. Here's Why They Shouldn't.
California UndergroundSeptember 10, 202600:20:28

California Wants to Regulate Social Media. Here's Why They Shouldn't.

AB 1709 passed the California legislature unanimously — every Democrat, every Republican, both chambers, zero no votes. It's now headed to Governor Newsom's desk. Here's what almost nobody said on the floor: this bill is nearly identical to a 2024 law a federal appeals court already blocked.

The goal has real, sympathetic backing — parents have testified about what these platforms did to their kids, and Common Sense Media is calling this social media's "Big Tobacco moment." That's not in dispute here. What's worth sitting with: the bill's language reaches further than social media alone, covering any platform with "addictive features" as defined, and it gives the Attorney General room to expand that definition later by regulation. Two things can be true at once — the intent can be good, and the mechanism can still be worth watching
closely.

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📌 Sources:
- EFF veto letter on AB 1709: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/08/eff-gov-newsom-veto-californias-ab-1709
- Wikipedia — Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976) and Ninth Circuit injunction history
- CalMatters — AB 1709 bill tracker and text
- Common Sense Media statement on AB 1709
california, california news, california politics, California podcast, AB 1709,
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