SACRAMENTO, September 10, 2026 – Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal’s (D – Long Beach) AB 2 into law, which sets historic penalties for negligent harm caused to children by social media platforms. AB 2 ensures that California holds social media platforms accountable for the harm that they cause to kids by setting penalties for social media companies up to $1 million per affected child for injuries caused to children through negligence. It empowers victims and their families to seek justice and supports courts to set adequate financial relief.
Bill details: AB 2 establishes appropriate damage amounts when a social media platform is found to have failed to meet their duty of ordinary care resulting in an injury to a minor. In practice, the bill would allow a plaintiff to seek the greater of either $5,000 per violation, up to a per-child maximum of $1 million or three times the amount of the child’s actual damages for harm caused by social media platforms.
“Harming kids should never be acceptable for any consumer product. Yet for too long, legal penalties for negligence were the price of doing business for many social media companies,” said Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D – Long Beach). “With AB 2 becoming law, harming kids for profit is no longer a viable business model. AB 2 establishes one of the most significant digital harm prevention policies in the nation, with the aim of not only making our state safer, but the entire country. This is a monumental win for kids and families, because it shifts the power of the entire social media ecosystem back to the people.”
“California continues to lead the nation in protecting our kids online,” said Speaker of the California Assembly Robert Rivas (D – Monterey). “In a digital world that too often puts profit ahead of children's wellbeing, our kids deserve safeguards that put their health, safety, and future first. I thank Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal for his tireless leadership on this issue and for standing up for the next generation of Californians."
“Protecting our kids means establishing real consequences for hurting them,” said Assemblymember Joe Patterson (R – Rocklin). “AB 2 creates compelling financial incentives for companies to center kids’ safety in their product designs and establishes a path for families to seek justice when their kids are harmed.”
“We applaud Governor Newsom for signing AB 2 into law and Assemblymember Lowenthal for sticking with this effort for three sessions in a row,” said Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media. “This new law reflects a powerful but very simple approach to force large social media companies to make their products safer for young people — raising the cost of doing harm to kids. The beauty of AB 2 is that it will incentivize companies to design their products safely for kids by increasing the financial cost of failing to do so.”
