Newsom Signed 13 New Laws to Protect Kids from Technology. Will They Work?

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed 13 bills into law last Thursday aimed at protecting children from the dangers of social media and artificial intelligence, capping an emotional push by state lawmakers to rein in technologies that advocates say are harming young people's mental health.

The bill signing ceremony, held September 10 at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, comes as public concern over children's online safety reaches new heights — and as Santa Barbara parents, educators, and pediatricians grapple with many of the same issues the laws were written to address.

The Santa Barbara Independent, republishing reporting from CalMatters, described the signing as an acceleration of California's effort to shield children's mental health from technologies largely developed within the state.

What the New Laws Do

Among the measures Newsom signed:

• A law making social media companies financially liable if they fail to protect children from harm on their platforms.
• A law temporarily banning the manufacture and sale of AI-enabled companion chatbot toys for children under 16.
• A law requiring social media platforms to either stop offering "addictive" features — such as infinite scroll — to users under 16, or bar those young users from the platforms entirely.
• Adam's Law, which imposes time limits for young users on AI platforms, restricts targeted advertising, requires timely crisis support, and mandates reporting of threats of suicide and self-harm.

The law is named for 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide last year after, according to the reporting, an AI chatbot relationship isolated him from family and friends. Raine had initially turned to ChatGPT for help with math homework. His mother, Maria Raine, spoke at the signing ceremony.

The new measures build on earlier state actions that have already reached Santa Barbara classrooms. In July, school administrators — including those in the Santa Barbara Unified School District — began enforcing the state law limiting or banning smartphone use during the school day. And in August, a multistate coalition co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta secured a $17 billion settlement with Meta over allegations that the company designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children. Meta has denied wrongdoing.

An Emotional Ceremony

"This is all personal," Newsom said at the signing, referencing his own four children and what he described as a near-daily desire to throw their devices away. "None of this is academic… How many parents are here? Because of love and exhaustion and frustration, anger, despair… feeling hopeless. Parents can't compete. Can't compete with the engineering, can't compete with the algorithms, can't compete."

Several legislators pulled their own children from school to attend the event, and some spoke through tears, according to CalMatters reporter Jocelyn Wiener.

Newsom did not spare the federal government. "We're going to again lead the nation, but the bar is pretty damn low, and that's what's so frustrating," he said, calling Congress's inaction "an abomination."

The Horror Stories Behind the Bills

Even a decade ago, the scenarios driving the legislation would have sounded like science fiction, the Independent's report noted. Among them: an AI chatbot allegedly coaching a teenager toward isolation and self-harm; AI-enabled plush toys reportedly describing how to locate matches, knives, and pills and engaging in sexually explicit conversations with children; and survey findings that nearly a third of teens described talking with an AI companion as "as satisfying or more satisfying" than conversations with real friends.

Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media — the San Francisco-based nonprofit that sponsored Adam's Law — told CalMatters the backlash against the industry has arrived.

"We've been saying broadly that this is Big Tech's Big Tobacco moment," Steyer said. "The blowback is not building anymore. It's here."

Ted Lempert, a former state assemblymember who now leads the children's advocacy organization Children Now, said legislative momentum built as those high-profile tragedies accumulated. "These high-profile, really horrific events were like 'Whoa, policymakers gotta act,'" he said.

What It Means for Santa Barbara Families

For local parents, the most immediate practical changes will likely come through the restrictions on addictive features and the ban on companion-chatbot toys for young children — though enforcement timelines and implementation details for several of the bills remain to be worked out.

The measures also land in a community that has felt the consequences of youth mental health strain firsthand. Santa Barbara County schools have spent years expanding mental health services for students, and the county's suicide prevention coalition has repeatedly flagged social media use as a growing concern among adolescents. The smartphone restrictions already in place this school year have changed the texture of local campuses, teachers and administrators say.

Whether the new laws survive likely court challenges is an open question. The social media liability measure in particular is expected to draw First Amendment litigation from industry groups, and previous state efforts to regulate online platforms have faced years of legal wrangling. Newsom acknowledged the stakes Thursday, framing California's actions as a test case for the nation.

What's clear is that the pressure on Sacramento — and on tech companies — is unlikely to ease. As Steyer put it, the blowback isn't coming. It's already here.

This article is based on reporting by Jocelyn Wiener of [CalMatters](https://www.independent.com/2026/09/13/newsom-signed-13-new-laws-to-protect-kids-from-technology-will-they-work/), republished by the Santa Barbara Independent.