Newsom Vetoes Parental Consent for Social Media Accounts

A California bill to require parental consent for children under 13 years to create social media accounts could have created confusion, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in vetoing the legislation Tuesday.

Newsom, a Democrat vetoed A.B. 1138 by Assemblyman James Gallagher (R). It would have applied to sites and applications like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and taken effect July 1, 2021.

Federal law already requires operators of internet websites or online services to get parental or guardian consent for children under 13, and states can enforce that law, Newsom said in his veto message.

“Given its overlap with ...