Opening the Door to Trial Lawyer Attacks on Social Media Platforms

Description

This bill creates new liability rules for social media platforms based on user harms, inviting a wave of lawsuits and government-driven content policing by private companies. Instead of narrowly targeting genuine abuse against minors, it empowers California to shape online speech through litigation threats and compliance costs. CPAC supports protecting minors online but opposes broad liability schemes that fuel trial lawyer abuses and incentivize censorship and opposed this bill. The Senate passed this bill on 2025-06-04 by a vote of 29-4. The Governor vetoed this bill.