Calif. Kids Social Media Bill Advances to Full Assembly
Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D) doesn’t believe tech industry opposition can stop his bill to set civil penalties for big social media platforms that breach their “responsibility of ordinary care and skill” to children under 18, he said at an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. Also, Lowenthal disagreed with concerns that AB-2, moving in the Assembly after a court blocked California’s age-appropriate design code (see 2503140063), could lead to more litigation.
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The committee cleared AB-2 with most members voting yes. It previously passed the Privacy Committee in a 9-0 vote (see 2504020054). With those two approvals, AB-2 can go to the Assembly floor.
TechNet and the Computer & Communications Industry Association appeared as primary opposition witnesses at the Judiciary hearing. Among other concerns, the industry groups argued that the bill would lead to many frivolous lawsuits.
“The opposition has a tough job here," commented Lowenthal. “I can't think of any single human being who's with them on this topic.”
However, Assemblymember David Tangipa (R) echoed the concern about the bill leading to more lawsuits, saying he worries AB-2 “opens so large of a litigious window.” Lowenthal countered that his bill doesn’t change the burden of proof. All it does is give judges some guidance on what the damages should be; the harm must still be proven in court, he said.
"We want your companies to be more successful than they are now, not less successful,” said Lowenthal. “We simply want to be aligned in our incentives, and we want to find ways to level set and right set the situation.”