Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Beijing, Aug. 31 (Beijing)-the California legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that will require manufacturers of social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to consider the physical and mental health of minors when designing products in the United States for the first time.

"We welcome the fact that California is home to the space for technological innovation," Senator Buffy Wicks, the Democratic senator and lead author of the bill, said at a news conference on Tuesday morning when he urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign the bill. "but I also want to make sure our children are safe, and right now, they're not safe." Social media companies oppose the bill, arguing that different state laws that regulate their applications will make compliance difficult.

The bill requires social media companies to study products and features that may be accessed by minors before publicly releasing products to assess and mitigate potential harm, which must be submitted to the state attorney general. It also requires companies to disclose their privacy policies in languages that children can understand and forbids the analysis of minors and the use of tools that encourage children to share personal information.

In addition, unless children are notified, it will prohibit companies from conducting accurate geolocation tracking and prohibit companies from using children's personal information in ways harmful to children's health. Companies found to have violated the rules may face a ban on their products, and will be fined up to $2500 (about 17000 yuan) per affected child for each violation, or up to $7500 (about 50, 000 yuan) per child if the violation is intentional. The bill will come into effect in July 2024.

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