A tech industry group has asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to block California’s new social media warning label law before it takes effect on January 1, 2027. NetChoice, whose members include Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit and X, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on November 4, 2026. A preliminary injunction would stop the law from being enforced while the lawsuit is decided.
The case, NetChoice v. Bonta, was filed on October 22, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. It is assigned to U.S. District Judge George H. Wu, and the motion is set for a hearing on December 14, 2026. The defendant is California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
What the California law requires
The law, Assembly Bill 56, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 13, 2025. It applies to platforms that offer an “addictive feed,” the same term used in a 2024 California law that limits algorithm-driven feeds for minors.
A covered platform must show a warning the first time a user opens it each day. That first warning stays on screen for at least 10 seconds and covers at least a quarter of the screen, though the user can close it. After three hours of total use in a day, the warning returns for at least 30 seconds, covers at least three quarters of the screen and cannot be skipped. It then repeats at least once an hour.
The warning reads: “The Surgeon General has warned that while social media may have benefits for some young users, social media is associated with significant mental health harms and has not been proven safe for young users.”
The warnings go to every user except those the platform has reasonably determined are over 17. NetChoice says the Attorney General can enforce the law under California’s unfair competition law, which allows civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation.
NetChoice’s arguments
NetChoice argues the law forces private companies to repeat the government’s opinion, which it says violates the First Amendment’s protection against compelled speech. Its complaint calls the warning “contested policy and scientific judgments dressed up as factual warnings.”
The group points to Colorado, where it challenged a similar law. In November 2025, U.S. District Judge William J. Martínez blocked Colorado’s law, which required platforms to show warnings to users under 18 who spent an hour or more on a platform in a day or were online between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. It is also challenging a Minnesota warning law.
How this connects to the addiction lawsuits
The warning label fight is separate from the personal injury lawsuits families have filed against Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube. Those lawsuits claim the companies designed their apps to keep children and teens using them compulsively, contributing to depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self-harm. Many also allege the companies did not warn families about these risks. AB 56 itself says that showing the warning, or a user closing it, is not a defense to any claim, including a claim that a company failed to warn.
Thousands of these cases are pending in two places. Federal cases are grouped in a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland. An MDL brings similar federal cases together before one judge for pretrial work. California state court cases are coordinated in Los Angeles before Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl.
The Los Angeles cases are moving through bellwether trials, early test trials that show how juries respond to the evidence. The second bellwether ended without a verdict. Meta settled with one plaintiff shortly before trial and with the other during jury selection in late October, and Snap settled with both on November 2. The next bellwether trials are scheduled to begin in March 2027.
A ruling in the NetChoice case would decide whether California can require the warnings. It would not decide whether the companies are responsible for the injuries claimed in the addiction lawsuits.
Doyle APC handles social media addiction claims nationwide together with experienced co-counsel.
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