Artificial Intelligence

Newsom Signs 13 Laws on Children's Use of Social Media, AI

Are these laws a vital shield for children online or a backdoor ID mandate for all?

Published 1 day ago

Newsom Signs 13 Laws on Children's Use of Social Media, AI

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Above: Gavin Newsom at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, on Sept. 3. Image credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

The Spin

Left narrative

California just delivered the strongest kid safety laws in America, banning addictive feeds for minors, cracking down on dangerous companion chatbots and hardening privacy protections for every child online. Tech platforms had years to police themselves and chose engagement over children's lives. When an industry won't act, a state must, and the rest of the country should follow.

Gavin Newsom on X Governor of California

Right narrative

Labeling vague design features "addictive" without solid scientific evidence of harm is a backdoor ban on young people's access to the internet. The real effect is age and ID verification for everyone, since anyone whose phone sends no age signal gets treated as a suspect and pushed toward a face scan or government ID. Nobody should have to hand over identification just to browse the web.

Kenneth Schrupp on X ITIF