Judge allows California’s ban on addictive feeds for minors to go into effect

Late Tuesday evening, a federal judge blocked tech lobbying group NetChoice’s challenge to California’s recently enacted law, SB 976, which prohibits companies from serving “addictive feeds” to minors.

The effect of this decision is that beginning Wednesday, companies will be prohibited from serving an addictive feed to a California-based user they know to be a minor, except with explicit parental consent. SB 976 defines an addictive feed as an algorithm that selects and recommends content for users based on their behavior, and not their explicit preferences.

From January 2027 onward, companies will be required to use “age assurance techniques,” like age estimation models, to determine whether a user is a minor and adjust their feed accordingly.

In November, NetChoice, whose members include Meta, Google, and X, sued to enjoin SB 976 in its entirety, arguing the law violated the First Amendment. The judge denied the motion for an injunction, but did block other elements of the law, including a restriction on nighttime notifications for minors.

New York passed similar legislation in June.