The governor of California has announced new restrictions on AI and social media to protect minors. He’s not the only one, from Australia to France, the trend is constantly increasing.
At the same time as the growth of voices calling for greater controls on AI and social networks, especially with regard to minors, an increasing number of States are imposing limits and bans on the use of these technologies for minors.
The new laws of California
The trend seems to have now also arrived in the United States, where in the early hours of today (Italian time) the governor of California Gavin Newsom signed and announced a package of 13 laws aimed at limit the use of social media and AI-based chatbots to protect children and teenagers.
Among the laws promulgated, there is a stop to the “hypnotic” functions of social media, with a ban on social platforms expose children under 16 to features deemed psychologically manipulative and addictiveincluding infinite scrolling (the so-called infinite scrolls), feeds managed by recommendation algorithms and automatic video playback.
Another of the laws promulgated originates from a crime case, namely the tragic suicide of sixteen-year-old Adam Raine, with the family accusing ChatGPT of having validated and influenced their son’s self-harming thoughts.
The new law introduced establishes strict regulations on chatbot “companions” for minors. The companies will have to implement parental control systemsreport if minors deactivate the filters and insert immediate emergency protocols For query related to self-harm.
Civil penalties and high financial compensation (up to 1 million dollars for each minor) are also introduced against social platforms deemed legally responsible for promoting anxiety, depression or other psychological harm in minors.
More and more countries regulate the use of AI and social media
California is not an isolated case. A pioneer in this area was Australia, which made it operational on 10 December 2025 the Online Safety Amendment Actthe first in the world to ban the opening of social network accounts by children under 16, with fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars for non-compliant platforms.
In July 2026, France became the first European country to ban access to social media for those under 15, with effect from the following 1st September and with the definitive green light from Parliament, measure which was then suspended by the French Constitutional Council.
The United Kingdom, with the Online Safety Act 2023 hey Protection of Children Codes effective from July 2025, imposes over 40 security measures, including age verifications and mandatory risk assessments. These include requiring platforms that integrate AI (including search engines and text/image creation software) to protect minors from harmful or illegal content generated by algorithms
In February 2026 the Spain announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai its intention to impose a ban similar to the Australian one for children under 16, while Denmark And New Zealand have already presented similar proposals.
In short, the trend appears to be emerging, and it is that of increasingly limited and controlled access to social media and AI for minors.
