LOS ANGELES — California parents whose children become addicted to social media apps would be able to sue for damages under a bill advanced Tuesday in the state Assembly by a bipartisan pair of lawmakers.
Assembly Bill 2408, or the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act, was introduced by Republican Jordan Cunningham of Paso Robles and Democrat Buffy Wicks of Oakland with support from the University of San Diego School of Law Children's Advocacy Institute. It's the latest in a string of legislative and political efforts to crack down on social media platforms' exploitation of their youngest users.
"I don't know why all of us — society and the kids — have to pay the cost" of the "the social media addiction epidemic that we've got going on with our teenagers," Cunningham told Politico. "It seems like that cost should be borne at least in part by the companies that profit from the behavior."
