OAKLAND, August 18, 2026 – Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (Long Beach - D) stood with social media survivors and survivor parents in front of the Oakland courthouse before the opening arguments for the landmark consortium Meta trial.
“I’m here not just as a state legislator today, but as a father of three daughters. And like so many of you, I live this every single day. Every day, I watch my girls navigate a digital world where platforms are running a massive, uncontrolled experiment on our children’s minds. Optimizing every scroll, every notification or engagement. Not their wellbeing. We didn’t consent to that experiment. And our kids didn’t either. Now we’re seeing the results in the form of anxiety, depression, and in the most heartbreaking of cases, empty chairs at our family dinner tables,” said Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal.
In the coming weeks, California’s Legislature will be voting on Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal’s social media safety package (AB 1709 and AB 2) that will address many of the features being litigated in the trial, including restricting recommendation algorithms, infinite scroll, autoplay, and notifications on social media for kids under 16 (AB 1709) and establishing steeper penalties for harm caused to children from negligence by large social media platforms (AB 2).
“We are developing and crafting this legislation so it can be cut and pasted, and brought to statehouses across the country, until we get our federal government to act. Because they have been derelict in their duty, providing no action and no oversight for this anxious generation. And we all see the results.” said Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal.
You can watch the full speech here.
Bill details: AB 1709 prevents social media platforms from serving addictive features to kids under 16. The bill also creates an e-Safety Advisory Commission under the Attorney General to ensure that California’s laws are no longer playing catch-up with technological advancements.
AB 2 sets appropriate damage levels for harm caused to children from negligence by large social media platforms.
