Governor Newsom signed a package of 13 bills on kids and technology. It's a mixed bag: some are real privacy wins, one is a sweeping ban critics say will backfire.
The privacy wins
AB 1159 closes loopholes in California's student-data law. Companies that know their products are used in schools can't sell student data, or use it to train or develop AI models. It now covers college students too, and reaches popular tools (like Google and YouTube) that dodged the old "primarily for students" wording.
AB 2071 and AB 2298 add digital literacy and cybersecurity to school curricula, teaching kids to spot unhealthy tech habits, judge AI-generated content, and protect their own data. AB 2071 was co-authored by students.
The contested one
AB 1709 functions as a ban on social media for under-16s. Supporters say it protects children. Critics, including the EFF, say bans cut kids off from news, community, and self-expression, and force age-verification, which means ID checks for everyone. France's top court struck down a similar ban last month.
Why it matters
Two paths are on display: teach kids to navigate the internet safely, or wall them off from it. The education bills are the model privacy advocates back. The ban is the one to watch, because "verify every user's age" becomes a privacy problem for adults too.
What to do
California parents and students: the student-data and digital-literacy protections apply automatically, but you can ask your school which ed-tech vendors it uses and how they handle data.
Everywhere else: watch for age-verification mandates in your state. They're the privacy cost hidden inside "child safety" bans.
Quick tip
Age-verification is the part to watch. If a "kids' safety" law makes a site check everyone's ID, that's your data on the line too, not just your kid's.
Up next · Wednesday
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