Assembly committee advances multiple bills on social media safety, privacy and surveillance after hours of testimony

Sacramento — The California State Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection heard testimony and took initial action on a package of bills on Tuesday addressing social media safety, online child protection, law‑enforcement access to tracking devices, workplace surveillance and government website security.

The committee advanced several measures to the next house committees while others were left “on call” as members flagged legal, technical and implementation concerns. The most prominent proposals would require social media apps to display warnings about mental‑health risks to intensive users, press device makers and app stores to transmit an age signal that apps can use to offer safer experiences for minors, and create a new state trust fund financed by a levy on in‑platform social media advertising.

Why it matters: Lawmakers, child‑safety advocates and mental‑health professionals told the committee that social platforms and targeted advertising have contributed to rising rates of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and suicidality among teens. Industry groups warned that some proposals could be impractical to implement, raise privacy or constitutional issues, or shift costs to small businesses.

The committee action, in brief: - AB 56 (Bauer‑Kahan): A bill to require social‑media apps to show a science‑based warning about potential mental‑health harms for heavy users was moved forward to the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a recorded 9‑0 tally. Supporters framed the warning as public‑health education; opponents, including industry trade groups, argued it risked constitutional challenges and “warning fatigue.”

- AB 1043 (Wicks): The Digital Age Assurance Act, which would require device makers/OS providers to provide a privacy‑protected mechanism at device setup that signals a user’s age bracket to apps and app stores, was the subject of…