Privacy Law Library

Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976)

SB 976

Children

Bars platforms from giving minors personalized 'addictive feeds' without verifiable parental consent, limits notifications to minors overnight and during school hours, and requires parental controls with protective defaults. It is partly enjoined in NetChoice v. Bonta: the district court blocked the notification limits and the Ninth Circuit (Sept. 9, 2025; en banc denied Nov. 6, 2025) also blocked the like-count default, but let the addictive-feed ban and other defaults take effect. Age-assurance duties start January 1, 2027, and the Attorney General's implementing rules were in rulemaking as of September 2026.

Where
California
Citation
Cal. Health & Safety Code 27000-27007
Status
In force
In force since
2025-01-01
Enforced by
California Attorney General (exclusive)
People can sue
No
Penalties
Enforced only by AG civil action (27006(a)); the chapter sets no specific penalty amount.
Applies to
  • Operators of addictive internet-based services or applications (platforms offering addictive feeds) with users in California who are minors

What a privacy notice must say

  • Publicly disclose each year the number of minor users and how many have parental consent for an addictive feed and have default settings enabled.Cal. Health & Safety Code 27005

Practices it requires

  • Do not provide an addictive feed to a user known to be a minor without verifiable parental consent; from 2027, only to users reasonably determined not to be minors.Cal. Health & Safety Code 27001(a)
  • Use information collected for age determination or parental consent only for compliance, and delete it immediately after use.Cal. Health & Safety Code 27001(b)
  • Do not send notifications to known minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. or during weekday school hours (Sept.-May) without parental consent (enjoined).Cal. Health & Safety Code 27002(a)
  • Give verified parents controls, on by default, to limit overnight access, cap feed time at one hour a day, hide like counts (like-count default enjoined), use a non-personalized default feed, and set the account to private.Cal. Health & Safety Code 27002(b)
  • Age assurance: from January 1, 2027, reasonably determine whether a user is a minor under AG regulations.Cal. Health & Safety Code 27001(a)(1)(B), 27006(b) · From 2027-01-01

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Unverified: Injunction scope comes from NetChoice's case page and a Crowell & Moring summary of the Sept. 9, 2025 Ninth Circuit opinion; the opinion and current district court orders were not read. | 27005 disclosure summary truncated in fetch; confirm the exact metrics.

Research reference, not legal advice.