California's Assembly Bill 1709 bans potentially addictive social media features for minors, including personalised recommendations and autoplay videos. (EPA Images pic)NEW YORK: Google, Meta Platforms and TikTok sued California to block enforcement of a new state law intended to limit the risk of addicting children under age 16 to social media platforms.

The law, known as Assembly Bill 1709, prohibits such platforms from offering underage children "psychologically exploitative features" that could lead to compulsive use, such as providing personal recommendations and sending videos through autoplay features. It also requires the deletion of children's accounts with those features.

In separate lawsuits on Wednesday, Google, Meta and TikTok said the law wrongly compels them to honour California's preferred means of presenting content to children, and substitutes the state's judgment for that of parents.