Law / United States / 
California
AB 2 (2026), statutory damages for a social media platform's injury to a child
AB 2 (Ch. 180, Stats. 2026), Cal. Civ. Code Section 1714.02
A product liability rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
As of .
What it requires
- If you operate a social media platform that generates more than $100,000,000 a year in gross revenues, exercise ordinary care and skill in the management of your platform and its features; an injury to a child caused by a want of ordinary care or skill makes you liable for statutory damages of the larger of $5,000 per violation, up to $1,000,000 per child, or three times the child's actual damages (Civil Code Sections 1714(a), 1714.02(a)).
- A term of service or contract clause that waives the section is void and unenforceable, so it does not limit your liability for an injury to a child (Section 1714.02(b)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What this law does
AB 2 was chaptered on as Chapter 180 of the Statutes of 2026 and adds Section 1714.02 to the Civil Code. Subdivision (a) of Section 1714 of the Civil Code already makes every person and corporation, including social media platforms, financially responsible for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care or skill in the management of their property or person.
A social media platform that violates subdivision (a) of Section 1714 by causing injury to a child is liable for statutory damages of the larger of $5,000 per violation, up to a maximum of $1,000,000 per child, or three times the amount of the child's actual damages. A child is a minor under 18 years of age, and a social media platform is one defined in Section 22675 of the Business and Professions Code that generates more than $100,000,000 per year in gross revenues.
Any waiver of the section is void and unenforceable as contrary to public policy. The duties, remedies and obligations the section imposes are cumulative to those imposed under other law and do not relieve a platform of any of them. The act applies only prospectively and does not apply to a legal case that was pending on or before . The section remains in effect only until , and is repealed on that date.
Under Article IV, section 8(c)(1) of the California Constitution, a statute enacted at a regular session goes into effect on the January 1 next following a 90-day period from its enactment, which for this act is .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform or serves under-18s.