AB 2481 Empowers Schools and Mental Health Professionals to Protect Children On Social Media

Los Angeles

The Organization for Social Media Safety is proud to announce that California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the Youth Social Media Protection Act (AB 2481) into law. Sponsored by the Organization for Social Media Safety and authored by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, this legislation establishes a first-in-the-nation verified reporting system that will allow school officials and mental health professionals to help quickly flag social media content that poses a severe threat to minors.

Starting January 1, 2026, AB 2481 will mandate that large social media platforms provide a means for verified school principals, school counselors, and licensed mental health professionals to directly report content that poses significant risks to minors, including:

• Cyberbullying
• Suicide-related content
• Drug trafficking
• Other threats of violence or harm

Once reported, these platforms will be required to conduct human reviews of the reported content and respond within 24 hours for severe risks.  This new process will help ensure that the social media platform can review dangerous content more quickly and remove it before it causes serious harm.

“The signing of AB 2481 is a huge victory for California’s kids, who are bearing the brunt of the harm that social media can manifest. I am confident that this new law will result in real, positive change for children, families, and educators who are grappling with the challenges of bullying, harassment, discrimination, and harmful content on a daily basis with no meaningful way to put a stop to it. AB 2481 is a major step in the right direction, offering relief to families and making social media companies more accessible and accountable for harmful content,” said Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, author of the bill.

“California’s educational leaders and licensed mental health professionals regularly bear direct witness to severe harms being inflicted upon youth due to content on social media; while having no means to address such content and protect the children in their care,” said Marc Berkman, CEO of the Organization for Social Media Safety.  “By creating a verified reporter process, California can enable its trusted professionals with their expert, experienced judgment to alert social media platforms to impending, severe risk facing children, and social media platforms will now have the reasonable, necessary obligation of reviewing and responding to these experts’ professional assessments of imminent risk in a timely manner.  We are proud to have sponsored this legislation and grateful to Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal’s leadership in protecting families from the dangers of social media.”

About the Organization for Social Media Safety
The Organization for Social Media Safety, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit, serves as the leading consumer protection organization focused solely on protecting the public from the dangers of social media. Through education, advocacy, and technology development, we protect the public from all social media-related dangers, including cyberbullying, depression, self-harm, eating disorders, hate speech, substance abuse, human trafficking, among many others. For more information about AB 2481 or to learn more about our work, please visit their website at www.socialmediasafety.org.