According to the associated press, according to a bill passed in the California parliament on Monday, if their children are addicted to social media platforms such as instagram and tiktok, parents will be able to sue these social media companies , with a maximum compensation of $25000 per violation.
The act defines "addiction" as children under the age of 18 who are both hurt - whether physically, mentally, emotionally, developmentally or materially - and want to stop or reduce the time they spend on social media, but they can't do it because they are obsessed or obsessed with social media.
Business groups warn that if the bill is passed, social media companies are likely to stop their children's business in California rather than face legal risks.
The proposal applies only to social media companies with total revenue of at least $100 million last year. It seems to be aimed at social media giants in dominant markets such as Facebook. It does not apply to streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, nor to companies that only provide e-mail and SMS services.
Jordan Cunningham, a Republican from Obispo County in St. Louis and the bill's sponsor, said: "the era of unrestricted social experiments on children is over, and we will protect children."
Monday's vote is a key - but not the last - step in the legislation. The bill is now before the California Senate, where it will undergo weeks of hearings and negotiations between lawmakers and advocates. But Monday's vote allowed the bill to continue this year.
The bill provides social media companies with two ways to evade court responsibilities. If the bill becomes law, it will enter into force on January 1 next year. Companies that remove features considered addictive to children before April 1 will not be liable for damages.
In addition, companies that regularly audit their practices to identify and remove features that may be addictive to children will be exempt from litigation.
Despite these Provisions, business groups opposed the bill. TechNet, a bipartisan network of technology CEOs and senior executives, wrote in a letter to lawmakers that if the bill becomes law, "social media companies and online web services will have no choice but to stop operating on children under the age of 18 and will implement strict age verification to ensure that teenagers do not use their websites."
"No social media company, let alone any company, can tolerate this legal risk," the Organization wrote.
Lawmakers seem willing to change the part of the bill that allows parents to sue social media companies, but no one offers a detailed alternative. Instead, supporters urged their colleagues to pass the bill on Monday to continue discussing the issue in the state legislature.
Democratic Senator Ken Cooley from Rancho Cordova said that as a lawyer, he usually opposed bills that created more opportunities for litigation. But he said lawmakers must "change the dynamics around us and around our children".
"We have to do something," he said. "If the result is wrong, we can modify it at any time."