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Latest / Media, elections and online safety

Rule changeMediaHealthCaliforniaConfirmed

California enacts SB 243 with safeguards for users of companion chatbots

See how this story connects

Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom: Bills to protect children onlineAlso reported by TechCrunch

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 243 by Senator Steve Padilla on 13 October 2025, alongside other children’s online safety bills. Operators of companion chatbots must disclose that conversations are AI-generated, keep protocols for responding to users who express suicidal thoughts or self-harm, give minors break reminders and block sexually explicit images for them, and report their protocols and crisis-referral figures to the Department of Public Health.

Why it matters

Companion chatbot operators serving Californians, including Character AI and Replika, must run self-harm protocols and report referral data to the state.

When
13 Oct 2025
ID
WTA-N-2025-0121
Who
California Department of Public Health, Character AI, Replika; Gavin Newsom, Steve Padilla
Rules involved

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from Office of Governor Gavin Newsom and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 9 Oct 2026.

Read the original at Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

Source copy: download the page as saved on 18 Oct 2026 (PDF). Documents the source offers: document 1 (PDF), document 2 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: What happened nextNew York’s AI companion safeguards take effect, enforced by the Attorney General

Cite this story

WTA-N-2025-0121: “California enacts SB 243 with safeguards for users of companion chatbots.” wheresthe.ai, 13 Oct 2025. https://wheresthe.ai/d/us-ca-sb243-companion-chatbots-signed-2025-10/ (source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom: Bills to protect children online).

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