California lawmakers take aim at social media role in youth fentanyl use and sex trafficking

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — How much responsibility do social media platforms bear when people use them to sell kids a deadly dose of fentanyl, pay teenagers to livestream strip teases or recruit minors who are sold for sex?

Those are questions California lawmakers will try to answer this year in their latest effort to regulate social media, a debate that will play out amid deliberation at the Supreme Court over whether federal law shields platforms from liability for manipulating what users see.

After a failed effort last year to pass a sweeping measure to allow more lawsuits against social networks for harm caused to children, lawmakers have come back this year with bills that