California lawmakers kill bill that would have allowed tech companies to be sued over social-media addiction

California lawmakers killed a bill Thursday that would have allowed government lawyers to sue social-media companies for features that allegedly harm children by causing them to become addicted.

The measure would have given the state attorney general, local district attorneys and city attorneys in the biggest California cities authority to try to hold social-media companies liable in court for features they knew or should have known could addict minors. Among those targeted could have been Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
-0.48%,
 Snapchat parent Snap Inc.
SNAP,
+5.11%,
and TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd.