United States of America: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued ruling largely upholding Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act

On 9 September 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling on California's Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, upholding most provisions. The Act limits platforms from providing personalised algorithmic feeds to minors without parental consent, requires private-mode accounts by default for minors, and restricts the display of like counts or feedback metrics. The court invalidated the like-count restriction, finding it content-based and subject to strict scrutiny, while upholding the private-mode default under intermediate scrutiny. Age verification requirements, scheduled to take effect in January 2027, were considered premature for challenge until implementing regulations are issued by the California Attorney General. The court remanded the case, enjoining enforcement of the like-count provision while allowing the other obligations to proceed.