Balgarianovinite.com
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is pressing California lawmakers to carve out an exemption from a bill that would sharply increase financial penalties for companies found liable in child-harm cases, according to a Friday report from POLITICO.
Citing two people familiar with the discussions, the outlet reported that Meta lobbyists have approached Democratic California Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Tom Umberg with proposed amendments to AB 2, legislation authored by Democratic Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal. The bill would allow fines of up to $1 million per child for social media platforms found responsible for harming minors through negligent product design. The measure is scheduled for a hearing before Umberg’s committee on Tuesday.
According to POLITICO, Meta’s proposed changes would create a legal safe harbor for social media companies that adopt a series of default child safety protections. Those safeguards would include disabling autoplay, limiting the sharing of geolocation data, muting overnight notifications, blocking direct messages from unknown adults, keeping minors’ profiles from public view, and preventing explicit content from being shown to children.
The proposal would also require companies seeking the exemption to provide parental controls allowing parents to limit screen time, hide their children’s profiles from public view, monitor who their children interact with online, and report misconduct.
If lawmakers adopt the amendments, the changes could reduce financial exposure in “hundreds” of ongoing lawsuits against Meta and other major platforms, including Google, TikTok, and Snap. Those companies have been accused by parents and young users of designing products that contributed to harms such as addiction, depression, and suicidality. POLITICO noted that a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and Google to pay $6 million in damages earlier this year after finding them liable in one such case.
Neither Meta nor Umberg commented on the proposed amendments, according to the report.
The report comes amid broader efforts by Meta to strengthen its political relationships. As revealed in Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s upcoming book Regime Change, President Donald Trump reportedly boasted that Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had changed their posture toward him after his 2024 victory, telling Tesla CEO Elon Musk, “They hated me,” before adding, “And look at them now.”
“First-class groveling,” Musk replied, according to the book.
The post Meta Lobbies for Exemption From Child-Harm Penalties: Report first appeared on Mediaite.
Meta Lobbies for Exemption From Child-Harm Penalties: Report 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-06-27 00:43:31 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law