California lawmakers on Friday rejected a bill that would make social media platforms liable for promoting harmful content about eating disorders, self-harm and drugs.

Senate Bill 680, opposed by tech companies, died in the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee as part of a marathon hearing in which lawmakers rejected hundreds of bills without public debate.

There is little doubt that social media platforms use algorithms and design features that experts across the country agree contribute to the harm done to our children, Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who wrote SB 680, said in a statement . These companies have the power to modify their platforms to mitigate this damage, but so far we’ve seen them take no meaningful action.

The death of the law underscores the uphill battle California lawmakers face as they try to make social media a safer place for young people. Tech industry organizations such as TechNet and NetChoice, whose members include Facebook parent company Meta, Snap, and TikTok, lobbied aggressively against SB 680. Opponents said the bill would violate federal law and the First Amendment because online platforms would eventually remove more legitimate platforms. speak as they err on the side of caution not to go south.

Tech industry groups opposed a similar social media bill last year and are trying to block another bill by filing a lawsuit after it is signed into law.

California lawmakers, Skinner said, should not give up their fight to protect our children.

Another bill, Assembly Bill 1394, which on Friday focused more specifically on combating child sexual abuse material on social media, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and went to the Senate for consideration. The law would require this

S

social media companies are going to give users in California a way to report child sexual abuse material that depicts them. The platform should be required to permanently block the material from being viewed. If the company did not do this, it would be liable for the damage.

“Ensuring children and teens have a safe experience online is a goal we share with the authors of SB 680 and AB 1394,” said Dylan Hoffman, TechNet’s executive director for California and the Southwest. “Unfortunately, SB 680, as drafted, would have done little to protect children from harmful content and would have resulted in fewer online spaces for teens.”

Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Friday, child safety advocates expressed outrage at the changes

to AB 1394

pressured by the technology industry. The amendments, backed by TechNet, would give online platforms another way to avoid liability for failing to combat child sexual abuse material, according to child advocacy groups Common Sense Media and the Children’s Advocacy Institute.

They are effectively trying to keep a golden fence around tech companies despite evidence showing their products are causing great harm to children, Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, said in an interview before the hearing. It is absolutely shameful and disgusting what they are doing.

On Wednesday, the children’s advocacy group called on members of TechNet to leave the organization or denounce the group’s conduct.

TechNet president and CEO Linda Moore sent a letter to Steyer on Thursday, saying it was working in good faith with the bill’s author, Assemblyman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), to make changes to the bill because the legislation could be challenged in court.

The bill was tabled without amendments, but Wick’s office said potential amendments are still being negotiated. AB 1394 also prohibits social media companies from knowingly facilitating, aiding, or encouraging commercial sexual exploitation.

A court should award damages between $1 million and $4 million for any exploitation the social media platform facilitated, aided or encouraged. Companies could avoid liability if they conducted quarterly audits of their designs, algorithms, features and practices and corrected any adverse impacts.

I am confident that this bill will reach the governor’s office and, when signed, will be the strongest law in the country aimed at combating child abuse material, Wicks said in a statement.