California Bans Personalised Feeds for Under-16s: A Comprehensive Package of Child Safety Bills
California has taken a significant step in child online safety by banning personalised recommendation feeds and autoplay for users under 16, going beyond existing regulations in Australia or the Digital Services Act (DSA). Governor Gavin Newsom signed 13 bills on September 10, 2026, aimed at protecting minors from potentially harmful content.
Key Provisions:
- Personalised Feeds: The feed provisions prohibit serving minors content ranked based on their individual history and profile, a stricter measure than existing regulations.
- Chatbots: SB 1119 introduces crisis protocols for companion chatbots, including measures for suicidal thoughts, parental controls, and notifications when children disable safety settings. It is named Adam’s Law, after Adam Raine.
- Audit and Risk Assessment: The bill requires independent child safety audits and annual risk assessments for chatbots.
- Age Verification: AB 1856 mandates age verification signals in software applications, aligning with industry lobbying efforts.
- Expanding Child Sexual Exploitation Laws: SB 1276 extends child sexual exploitation offenses to AI-generated and digitally altered depictions.
International Context:
This move by California is part of a global trend. Australia is consulting on making platforms prompt users to disable ranking, while Article 38 of the DSA requires a non-profiling option. California’s ban goes further by mandating this for minors. The impact will be significant, providing the first large-scale evidence of how teenagers respond when ranking is turned off.
OpenAI has publicly backed several of these bills, including SB 1119, advocating for national AI safety rules and using California’s legislation as a baseline. This highlights the growing emphasis on state-level legislation to address AI safety concerns.
The international pattern in child safety regulations is becoming clear: Europe’s rules often require data collection prohibited by privacy laws, while California offers innovative solutions like age verification at the operating system level. Meta has been advocating for this approach for years, and it’s now a reality in California.