UC Irvine researcher warns California's under-16 social media law could backfire
Gillian Hayes argues AB 1709 works like a ban for kids under 16 and relies on age checks she says don't work. The bill's sponsor and a Bakersfield father see it differently.
UC Irvine researcher warns California's under-16 social media law could backfire
Key Takeaways
- UC Irvine computer scientist Gillian Hayes argues California's AB 1709 effectively bans social media for users under 16.
- The law bars autoplay and personalized feeds for users under 16 and is set to take effect Jan. 1.
- Hayes cites Australia's under-16 ban, where evaluations found more than 80% of kids still on restricted platforms.
- The bill's sponsor says even partial enforcement would protect millions of California children.
The boy was 13. On Autcraft, a Minecraft server built for autistic kids, he had friends he trusted. He led builds and comforted other kids when they were struggling.
Then, while he was describing all of it for a study, he asked, "Will I always be not social?"
Gillian Hayes told that story in a commentary The Bakersfield Californian published Oct. 29. Hayes is a computer scientist at UC Irvine and co-directs the CERES Center for Children and the Digital World. She argued that California's new limits on kids' social media, along with the push to restrict AI chatbots, could cut kids off from the online spaces where they feel safest. The law she's mainly writing about, Assembly Bill 1709, is set to take effect Jan. 1. It's statewide, so it will reach teenagers in Kern and Fresno counties just as it reaches kids in Los Angeles.
What the law does
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1709, authored by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, on Sept. 10. According to a summary from the law firm Fenwick, it was one of 13 child safety bills he signed that day.
The law bars covered platforms from offering what it defines as "addictive features" to users under 16, KERO-TV in Bakersfield reported. That includes autoplay and personalized algorithmic feeds. Teens can still have accounts and search for content. Starting in 2027, apps will have to request an age-bracket signal from a device's operating system or app store, the station reported, and the law also creates an e-safety commission.
Senate Bill 1119, known as Adam's Law, was also part of the package. According to KQED, it requires companion chatbot operators to assess the risks their products pose to children, document what they find and hand the results to an independent auditor. It also requires parental controls and in-app crisis support.
What Hayes argues
Hayes wrote that Californians are right to worry. "The lawsuits behind this year's chatbot bills involve real children who were harmed," she wrote.
But she said bans mostly don't work, and she pointed to Australia. Three months into that country's under-16 social media ban, the government's own regulator and a peer-reviewed medical journal study both found more than 80% of kids still using restricted platforms, she wrote. Kids fake their ages and borrow logins.
She said she appreciates that AB 1709 goes after design features like infinite scroll. Her objection, which she said the Electronic Frontier Foundation shares, is that the law defines "addictive features" so broadly that it effectively bans social media for people under 16. She also wrote that age verification "largely doesn't work" and lets the same companies people are worried about collect even more data on kids and adults alike.
She wrote that LGBTQ youth often find support online that isn't available at home or school. Autistic and other neurodivergent kids, she wrote, often make their best friends in text-based or game-based spaces.
What a Bakersfield family said
The bill's backers read it differently. Marc Berkman, chair of the Organization for Social Media Safety, which sponsored AB 1709, told KERO the law doesn't stop content. "We're just preventing the problematic habitual use of these platforms," he said.
Citlali Soto, a student at Independence High School in Bakersfield, told the station Instagram and TikTok once ate up three to four hours of her day. Her father, Javier Soto, took social media away when she was about 12 or 13. She told the station she has no interest in going back.
Asked about the new law, her father said, "It would make me feel safer about social media."
Berkman acknowledged the age checks won't be perfect at first. KERO reported that legal challenges from the tech industry could delay the Jan. 1 start, though Berkman said his group expects the law to hold up in court.
"If we're 30, 40, 50% effective, that is millions of children in California that are now protected," Berkman said.
Central Valley AI is produced by the CVAI Newsdesk team and developed by Kaweah Tech, a regional firm that builds, deploys, and integrates AI solutions for businesses across California's Central Valley.