California SB 976 (Addictive Feeds)
What it does
Platforms cannot serve minors an algorithmic feed personalized to them without verifiable parental consent, cannot send minors notifications overnight or during school hours, must default minors' accounts to private, and must publish user metrics. NetChoice sued, and in September 2025 the Ninth Circuit refused to block the core provisions, holding the feed restrictions and privacy defaults permissible. Attorney General Bonta proposed the implementing regulations on May 14, 2026, covering age determination and parental consent; final rules are due by January 1, 2027.
Why it matters
A federal appeals court has now blessed feed regulation for minors, which makes SB 976 the template other states copy. And the machinery is in the regulations: to give minors a different feed, platforms have to sort every Californian by age. The statute calls it “age assurance.” It means age ID checks on everyone.
Our take
You cannot build a special internet for minors without identifying the minors, and you cannot identify the minors without checking everyone. The feed rules get the headlines; the age-sorting rules the AG is writing right now are the part that touches every user.
Votes
- Assembly — Final passage (47 to 4) · August 31, 2024
- Senate — Final passage (28 to 2)
Timeline
- September 20, 2024Signed by Governor Newsom
- September 15, 2025Ninth Circuit refused to block the core provisions
- May 14, 2026AG Bonta proposed age ID check and parental-consent regulations
- January 1, 2027Final age ID check regulations due
Legal challenges
Ninth Circuit denied a preliminary injunction against the core provisions, September 2025
Related bills
Our coverage: all age-verification stories