California Social Media Addiction Bill Advances in Narrower Form

A California bill seeking to hold social media companies legally responsible for addicting young users to their platforms advanced, clearing an initial hurdle after it was amended to allow lawsuits only by public prosecutors.

The legislation, which has drawn strong opposition from the tech industry, would prohibit companies such as Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc., TikTok Inc. and Google from designing social media to hook users younger than 18 years old and provides for penalties of up to $250,000 for each violation.

Tuesday’s 8-0 vote by a Senate committee in the state capitol in Sacramento is just the ...