California Attorney General has joined a bipartisan coalition of 45 attorneys general reaffirming support for the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act, S. 1748, his office announced Nov. 4.

“Federal action is critical to keep kids safe online. Children nationwide need leaders who will step in when social media companies prioritize profits over commonsense consumer protections,” Bonta said. “The Senate’s KOSA legislation creates a federal floor of baseline protections states can build off of, while still allowing states like California to have stronger safeguards in place.”

According to the release, S. 1748 would create a duty of care requiring social media companies to mitigate and prevent harm to users under 18. Unlike the House version, H.R. 6484, the Senate bill contains no preemption language, so states could keep stronger laws and act on future online harms.

In California, those state protections include the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976), enacted in 2024 to limit addictive feeds and notifications for minors without parental consent, and the Social Media Warning Law (AB 56), which requires platforms to periodically show young users a mental health warning label.

The release also cited the $17 billion settlement Bonta and a coalition of 51 attorneys general announced with Meta in August 2026. The office said it includes default daily time limits, a block on overnight use that only a parent can lift, parental supervision tools, age-assurance measures and an independent auditor to oversee compliance.

The office pointed to research tying more time online to more severe depression symptoms among young people, and to California’s lawsuits against Meta and TikTok alleging the companies designed their platforms to keep young users hooked.

The coalition was led by the attorneys general of Hawaiʻi, Ohio, Tennessee and Connecticut, and includes attorneys general from dozens of other states and territories and the District of Columbia.

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Rob Bonta

Attorney General · Democrat

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