California’s legislature has passed a bill that critics say is “deeply flawed” and that they are now hoping Governor Gavin Newsom will veto.
The bill, AB 1709, was approved by the state Senate with a 39-0 vote on August 31, while the Assembly – which had earlier approved a version of the bill in May with a 76-0 vote – accepted the Senate’s amendments the same day, again without any opposition.
The bill’s goal is to prevent addiction among young people, but the way it seeks to achieve this is by prohibiting websites, online services and apps from giving users under 16 “addictive features” such as personalized feeds and autoplay. The bill would allow these young users to keep their accounts, but without the “addictive features.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has come out strongly against the bill, urging the governor to veto it. In a post, the digital rights group calls it “a well-intentioned, but deeply flawed piece of legislation.”
And while it does not go into the bill’s intentions, it spells out what it means by “deeply flawed” – namely, that it will push companies toward using government ID or biometrics for age verification, which will result in users of all ages providing more personal data, creating “massive honeypots of sensitive personal data.”
EFF also argues that the bill will “expose all users to increased risk of data breaches and cyber attacks,” and undermine anonymity.
But that’s not all – the group believes that the bill will also have a negative effect on speech, as recommendation algorithms can be helpful to young people in finding content that might be unavailable to them in their offline life, such as art, religious material, political discussion, and supportive communities.
The bill would not ban all social media accounts for those under 16, as it allows these users to maintain accounts as long as the platforms withhold the “addictive features.”
If the user is found to be under 16, platforms must withhold the addictive features, but can still allow them to use the service.
The age verification would be done using California’s Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), which is set to come into force in 2027. If that method is not possible, the platform would use the method defined in the Health and Safety Code Section 27001.
AB 1709 defines “addictive features” as an addictive feed, autoplay, and other features that the Attorney General would be able to add to this definition through regulations.
The bill does not apply to commercial-transaction services or consumer-review services, or to feeds that are “primarily” used for cloud storage.
AB 1709 would also establish a seven-member e-Safety Advisory Commission, which would provide non-binding advice to the Attorney General, the Legislature, and the Governor on a number of issues, including age-assurance technology, privacy, and the effects of online restrictions.
The commission would also be able to recommend changes to the bill once it becomes law.
The bill would punish knowing violations with fines of up to $50,000 per affected minor and negligent violations with fines of up to $25,000 per affected minor.
Newsom has not publicly endorsed AB 1709, but has in the past spoken in favor of banning teenagers from social media, and has signed AB 1043.
