State lawmakers passed a proposed law that would require black-box, pop-up warnings to try to deter kids from spending way too much time on social media.
Assembly Bill 56, introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2024, would “enact the Social Media Warning Law to require a social media platform to display a certain black box warning to a user each day the user initially accesses the social media platform, again after 3 hours of cumulative active use, and thereafter at least once per hour of cumulative active use.”
Danny Weiss with Common Sense Media sees the benefits of the bill.
“We know that we have a mental health youth crisis, so this is one step toward helping kids and teens and their families have greater awareness about the impact of using social media on their mental health,” he told KNX News’ Jon Baird.
Dr. Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State and the author of “Ten Rules for Raising Kids in a High Tech World,” told Baird this is a good start.
“It's similar to what the Surgeon General suggested at a national level a few years ago, but I agree with these parents that more needs to be done,” she said. “For example, I advocate for the minimum age for social media to be raised to 16, and for age to actually be verified, but having warning labels would at least perhaps increase awareness.”
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
Baird also spoke with parents dropping off kids for school outside Mark Twain Middle School. One parent, David, said he’s doesn’t think the warning label will do much.
“First of all, it impedes on our freedoms, right?” he said. “Number one, that's how I look at it, and then number two, it’s still gonna take parental monitoring to enforce it.”
One woman said she doesn’t think the box would deter kids.
“The kids, they lie about their age, especially on the TikTok thing,” she said. “They put in false ages so that they can still participate on social media.”
The bill has also received criticism from the tech industry. Officials with the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a nonprofit organization, said in an April press release that AB 56 and AB 2 “poses serious risks to digital privacy, free expression, and the competitive landscape of the tech industry.”
The bill passed the Senate on Thursday, butit won’t become a law until Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok