Lawmakers Press Ahead With Social Media Bills After Meta Deal

(TNS) — Advocates and California legislators hailed the proposed $17 billion settlement that state attorneys general reached with the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. But they said the agreement should not get in the way of bills that would put further limits on social media companies.

The deal, announced Wednesday morning, includes daily time limits for users under 18 years old, blocks on notifications in the middle of the night and the option for teens to have a feed that is not driven by an algorithm.

Those restrictions are similar to what California legislators have spent years pushing for.

“The settlement is obviously a huge vindication of the position we’ve taken in the Capitol for years, that social media companies are creating products that are harmful to our kids,” said Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda. “But this is a fraction of what needs to be done.”

Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, has a bill pending in the Legislature that would require social media companies to offer children under 16 a version of their platforms that don’t include certain features, including personalized feeds, and create an e-safety advisory committee. Another pending measure would make social media platforms liable if they fail to “exercise ordinary care or skill by causing injury to a child.” Both must pass the Legislature by Aug. 31 to go before Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“They agreed to do these design changes to avoid much more severe financial penalties,” Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, said of the settlement. “Platforms could have done this work a long time ago. We’ve been extremely vocal about what changes we want to see, and they’ve avoided it.”

For its part, Meta, in a statement, said the company was partnering with state attorneys general to “set a new industry standard.” It called on YouTube and TikTok to follow the restrictions it was agreeing to.

Julianna Arnold, whose 17-year-old daughter died after she was given a prescription pill laced with fentanyl by a man she met on Instagram, called Meta’s plea to other companies a public relations stunt.

“We cannot stop this battle. We cannot let them sit on their laurels right now and say they’ve done everything they can,” said Arnold, a co-founder of Parents RISE!, an organization that advocates across the country for tougher laws on social media companies. “We definitely need legislation more than ever. And we need our legislators, both in (Washington) D.C., and in our state capitols to take action.”

The company has spent more than $1 million this year lobbying state lawmakers on an array of bills, including Lowenthal’s measures.

The settlement, if approved, would end an ongoing federal trial prompted by Attorney General Rob Bonta and leaders in other states over whether Meta designed platforms to be addictive to young people in a harmful way. California will receive up to $2.1 billion if the settlement is approved, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Jim Steyer, the founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, a key organization pushing for the regulation in California, called the settlement a “seminal moment” but just “one major concession by the biggest offender of all.”

“You feel a huge momentum shift,” he said, “but you also know that there are many other elements to this puzzle to truly win the victory.”

©2026 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.