# California signs child-safety laws covering companion chatbots and social media

- **Record type**: Change log entry
- **Occurred on**: 2026-09-10
- **Jurisdiction**: California (United States)
- **Impact level**: High
- **Status after the change**: Adopted

## What changed

The Governor signed a package of child-safety bills that, among other things, require risk assessments before new companion-chatbot rollouts, add penalties for harm to children and restrict toys that include a companion chatbot. According to the announcement and secondary reporting, most provisions take effect on 1 January 2027 and the companion-chatbot safeguards on 1 July 2027. Recorded from secondary reporting; confirm each bill against its enrolled text.

## What it means in practice

Providers of companion chatbots available to minors in California should plan risk assessments and safeguards for the 2027 dates.

## Provenance

- **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/changes/2026-09-10-california-companion-chatbot-child-safety-laws
- **Official source**: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/10/governor-newsom-signs-the-strongest-child-safety-chatbot-and-social-media-laws-in-the-nation/
- **Source document**: Governor Newsom signs the strongest child safety chatbot and social media laws in the nation
- **Published by**: Office of the Governor of California
- **Review status**: pending review
- **Confidence**: medium
- **Facts last confirmed**: never confirmed against the official source
- **Retrieved**: 2026-10-05
- **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

> This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.