Judge allows California’s ban on adulterated food to go into effect

On Tuesday evening, a federal judge prohibited tech lobbying group NetChoice opposes California’s recently enacted law, Cost of SB976which prohibits companies from providing “food supplements” to children.

The result of this decision is that from Wednesday, companies they will shall be prohibited from providing addictive food to a California user known to be a minor, except with parental consent. SB 976 defines an addictive feed as an algorithm that selects and recommends user content based on behavior, not preferences.

From January 2027 onwards, companies will be required to use “age verification methods,” such as age samplesto determine if the user is a minor and adjust their feed accordingly.

In November, NetChoice, whose members include Meta, Google, and X, filed a lawsuit to enjoin SB 976 in its entirety, arguing the law violates the First Amendment. The judge denied the request for summary judgment, but blocked other parts of the law, including a ban on nighttime notifications for children.

New York is gone similar rules in June.