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The Facebook and Instagram owner has joined Google and TikTok in filing separate lawsuits seeking to block a law targeting features that could encourage compulsive use among users younger than 16. The legal challenge comes months after Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion and introduce stronger protections for teenagers under settlements with nearly all US states. The law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, unless a court intervenes.
The latest dispute centres on whether California can restrict personalised recommendations and autoplay videos to protect children, or whether those restrictions interfere with the companies’ constitutional rights to organise and present content, according to a report by The New York Times. Meta spokesman Edward Patterson said the law would allow the government to “dictate how ideas are organised, displayed or shared with Californians,” and undermine the company’s ability to recommend age-appropriate content to children. Google said YouTube already restricted some features for minors, including autoplay on children’s accounts, and allowed parents to disable its short-form video feed, Shorts. “We believe parents are best positioned to make the right decisions for their families, which is why we offer a range of protections and tools that put parents in control,” said José Castañeda, a Google spokesman. “Meta, Google and TikTok’s business models rely on keeping kids and teens scrolling, and now they’re claiming that protecting those features is a matter of free speech,” said Brooke Istook, chief executive of the Heat Initiative, a tech-accountability advocacy organisation. “What’s really at stake is their ability to keep profiting from addictive designs that put kids at risk every day.”
Meta is challenging California’s new restrictions on children’s social media. Those agreements addressed claims involving children’s use of Facebook and Instagram. Google, Meta and TikTok filed their separate challenges on Wednesday, the report claims.