Law / United States / 
California
AB 56 (2025), social media warning labels for minors
Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 28000-28002
A social media and minors rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- No
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to covered platforms: addictive internet based services or applications consistent with Health and Safety Code Section 27000.5, excluding services whose primary function is commerce, cloud storage, email or direct messaging.
- Display a prescribed black box warning, attributed to the Surgeon General, to users under 18: for at least 10 seconds covering at least 25 percent of the screen on first daily access.
- Display the warning again for at least 30 seconds covering at least 75 percent of the screen after 3 hours of cumulative daily use and each hour thereafter.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- What suffices for a covered platform to have 'reasonably determined that the user is over 17 years of age' under Health and Safety Code section 28002(a)(1)(C) and (a)(2)(C), which excuse the warning, when the chapter prescribes no method of age assurance?
- What counts as 'cumulative active use' under section 28002(a)(2)(A): time with the application open, time with the screen on, or time engaged with content, and is it counted across a user's devices?
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
Covered services
Covered platforms, defined as addictive internet based services or applications consistent with Health and Safety Code Section 27000.5, excluding services whose primary function is commerce, cloud storage, email, or direct messaging.
What it makes you log
Logging duty
The act requires a warning to be displayed on first daily access and after three hours of cumulative active use; it names no log, record or audit trail and states no retention period.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Requires covered addictive platforms to display a prescribed black box warning, attributed to the Surgeon General, to users under 18: for at least 10 seconds covering at least 25 percent of the screen on first daily access, and for at least 30 seconds covering at least 75 percent of the screen after 3 hours of cumulative daily use and each hour thereafter. Approved by the Governor ; operative .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.
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