FPF Submits Comments to Inform California Children’s Social Media Protections Rulemaking Process

On June 30, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) submitted comments in response to the California Department of Justice’s (the Department’s) ongoing rulemaking process for the “Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act” (the Act or SB 976). Signed into law in 2024, SB 976 bars operators of “addictive internet-based services” from providing an addictive feed to a user unless the operator reasonably determines the user is not a minor or, in the case of minors, obtains verifiable parental consent. The law also restricts notifications to minors during school and late-night hours; requires platforms to give parents tools to cap feed time, limit visibility of likes and other engagement metrics, and enable a “private mode”; and requires operators to annually disclose how many minor users they have and how many have parental consent on file. The law’s core provisions take effect on January 1, 2027. On May 15, the Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) setting out draft regulations to guide business compliance with SB 976’s age assurance and parental consent requirements before the law takes effect.