Back to California

AB-56 • 2026

Social media: warning labels.

Social media: warning labels.

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Bauer-Kahan
Last action
Official status
Chaptered
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source uses the phrase 'as prescribed,' indicating that some details about how warnings must be displayed may depend on future rules.

Social Media Warning Labels

This law requires certain social media platforms to show a warning message to specific users when they first open the app each day and again after reaching set amounts of active use time.

What This Bill Does

  • Creates the Social Media Warning Law for covered platforms.
  • Requires platforms to display a black box warning when a user initially accesses the platform each day.
  • Mandates showing the warning again after 3 hours of cumulative active use.
  • Repeats the warning at least once per hour of cumulative active use after the initial 3-hour mark.
  • States that this law cannot be used as the basis for private lawsuits against platforms.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Covered social media platform operators
  • Certain users of these covered platforms

Terms To Know

Black box warning
A specific type of alert message that the law requires platforms to display.
Cumulative active use
The total amount of time a user has been actively using the platform, which triggers additional warnings after 3 hours and then hourly.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The law does not take effect until January 1, 2027.
  • The text defines 'covered platform' and 'certain users' but does not list specific examples of which apps or people are included.

Bill History

  1. California Legislative Information

    Chaptered

Official Summary Text

Social media: warning labels.