California nears vote on social media age checks amid privacy clash
California nears vote on social media age checks amid privacy clash
Publish Date: 2026-05-01 04:21:00
Source Domain: www.biometricupdate.com
Debate surrounding California’s latest age assurance law is seeing rhetoric amp up on both sides of the issue, with lawmakers set to vote on a bill as early as next week.
Assemblyman Josh Lowenthal introduced AB-1709 to keep children off platforms that have addictive features, such as notifications, endless scrolls and autoplay The age verification bill “would prohibit a covered platform, as defined, from permitting a user who is under 16 years of age to create or maintain an account on the covered platform and would require a covered platform to implement reasonable measures to prevent users under 16 years of age from accessing or using accounts on the covered platform.” It would also create a new e-Safety Advisory Commission to enforce the law.
Quoted by Komo News, Lowenthal says social media is “wreaking havoc on the minds of our youth” and that platforms “have adopted design choices that malignantly target users’ neurological systems, leading to addiction, depression, and, in grave circumstances, death.”
Critics say bill would destroy privacy, but social media has already done that
Opponents of the bill are equally agitated. A blog from the Electronic Frontier Foundation beseeches readers: “Act Now to Stop California’s Paternalistic and Privacy-Destroying Social Media Ban.”
“Under this bill, all Californians would be required to submit highly sensitive government-issued ID or biometric information to private companies simply to participate in the modern public square,” EFF says. And, “when California leads – especially on tech – other states follow. There is no reason for California to lead the nation into an unconstitutional social media ban that destroys privacy and harms youth.”
Similarly, a blog from Cambridge Analytica frets that “California lawmakers are fast-tracking a sweeping bill that would require every resident – regardless of age – to hand over government-issued ID or biometric…
