On Tuesday night, a federal judge blocked Tech lobby group NetChoice’s challenge to California’s recently enacted law, SB 976which prohibits businesses from serving “addictive foods” to minors.
The effect of this decision is that starting Wednesday, companies willpower You are prohibited from providing an addictive feed to a California-based user who you know is a minor, except with explicit parental consent. SB 976 defines an addictive feed as an algorithm that selects and recommends content to users based on their behavior and not their explicit preferences.
Starting in January 2027, companies will be required to use “age assurance techniques,” such as age estimation models, to determine whether a user is underage and adjust their feed accordingly.
In November, NetChoice, whose members include Meta, Google and X, sued to ban SB 976 in its entirety, arguing that the law violated the First Amendment. The judge denied the injunction motion but blocked other elements of the law, including a restriction on nightly notifications for minors.
New York passed similar legislation in June.