Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Measure to tax social‑media ad revenue for youth mental‑health fund advances amid legal and industry pushback
Summary
A proposal to tax social‑media advertising revenues and put the proceeds into a trust for youth mental‑health, education and social services advanced from committee despite industry warnings about costs to advertisers and possible federal preemption.
Assemblymember Lowenthal introduced AB 796, the proposed California Social Media Accountability Act, which would levy a recovery fee on social‑media platforms’ in‑state advertising revenues and deposit proceeds into a dedicated Social Media Safety Trust Fund. The author said the fund would finance school‑based mental‑health services, research on social‑media harms, public education and social‑service remediation for harms such as sextortion or trafficking.
Supporters argued the…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
