In a move that may redefine the relationship between technology platforms and the young people who inhabit them, California has enacted legislation placing enforceable legal boundaries around children's access to social media — a recognition that voluntary industry stewardship has not been equal to the scale of the problem. The law targets both the gateway to these platforms, through age verification, and their inner mechanics, by constraining the algorithmic systems that have long shaped what young users see and feel. Because California's regulatory choices tend to ripple outward across the i