California bill would allow parents to sue big tech for children becoming 'addicted' to social media

A new California bill will give parents the ability to sue social media companies for up to $25,000 for their children becoming addicted to their sites. The bill, AB-2408, is currently awaiting passage by the state Senate, and seeks to lead the way to hold social media companies accountable for their predatory methods of user engagement.

"The bill defines 'addiction' as kids under 18 who are both harmed — either physically, mentally, emotionally, developmentally or materially — and who want to stop or reduce how much time they spend on social media but they can't because they are preoccupied or obsessed with it," ABC reports.

Should the bill pass, social media companies will have the chance to avoid liability if they remove any of their features that contribute to adolescent addiction or by implementing routine audits of the features that may contribute to addiction by April 1, 2023.

The ethics of the tactics used by social media companies to prolong users’ time on their sites has long been in question. User retention is one, if not the, top priority for social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The longer they can keep users on the app, the more opportunity for the companies to show you ads or collect your data-- two of the most lucrative revenue sources in Silicon Valley.

Facebook even touts crash courses on their own news blog on increasing user retention in mobile apps, emphasizing the correlation between user retention and profits. Facebook also puts extreme emphasis on "show[ing] app users who else is using the app," capitalizing on our innate desire for community and to fit in.

Children are especially susceptible to these predatory engagement methods, increasingly so after COVID lockdowns, with social media companies offering the only opportunity for them to satisfy their developmental social needs.

"The era of unfettered social experimentation on children is over and we will protect kids," said the author of the California bill, Jordan Cunningham, a Republican assemblyman.

The bill is receiving bipartisan support, with another assembly member, Ken Cooley, a Democrat, saying we must "change the dynamics of what is surrounding us, surrounding our kids. We have to do something." Cooley is also pushing for an expedited passage of the bill, even if lawmakers don't agree with all of the ins-and-outs, saying, "If it doesn't turn out right we can modify as we go along."

This seems to be one of the first bipartisan efforts to hold social media giants accountable for their methods, with other conversations being highly politicized. Discussions have become increasingly tense in recent months with the Biden Administration actively calling for social media censorship of information on multiple occasions.

But there is hope with this California bill that social media companies will no longer operate like they are in the Wild West, and face consequences for their impacts on our societal health. It will undoubtedly cause social media companies to put better safeguards on the unfettered access children currently have to their products. Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg faced intense backlash for a Metaverse app allowing children to visit virtual strip clubs and watch simulated sex.

If passed, the bill is set to take effect January 1st, 2023.