Who is Rob Bonta? The AG at the heart of some of the biggest legal battles in business

By Clare Duffy, Brian Stelter, CNN

New York (CNN) — As California Attorney General, Rob Bonta technically represents the interests of just one state. But over the past year, his profile has grown as he leads some of the business world’s biggest legal battles — with the potential to reshape how people across the country consume information, news and entertainment.

Last week, Bonta helped secure a landmark, $18 billion settlement with Meta, leading dozens of state attorneys general in a lawsuit that claimed the tech giant’s platforms harmed young people’s mental health.

Now, he’s angling for broader changes to the social media industry — warning TikTok and Google’s YouTube that they, too, will have a coalition of states come after them if they don’t agree to safety updates.

At the same time, Bonta is heading the fight to stop Paramount from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, a merger that seeks to reshape Hollywood and the TV news business. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

In taking on Big Tech and Hollywood, Bonta has challenged California’s most important industries and most powerful corporate titans, some of whom have sought support from the Trump administration.

But for Bonta, the cases have highlighted the day-in, day-out work of the California attorney general’s office, which has more than 5,000 employees.

California’s top lawyer, who has said his career was inspired by fictional legal hero Atticus Finch, has a history of taking on tough fights. That includes 87 lawsuits against the Trump administration, which Bonta’s office says has protected more than $200 billion in state funding.

Hardly a day goes by without an announcement or two from Bonta’s office. One day last week, it was about human-trafficking arrests. The next day, it was about protecting public lands. The following day, it was about challenging a federal rule restricting mail-in voting.

“As the country’s largest state DOJ, we have a unique opportunity to cover a far-reaching portfolio of issues,” Bonta said in a statement to CNN. “Whether public safety, the environment, reproductive care, housing, and antitrust, or whether it’s tackling unaffordability or protecting democracy and the fundamental right to vote — we are addressing concerns that fundamentally affect how Californians live their lives.”

Bonta is up for reelection this fall, but his work as attorney general could also serve as a springboard to higher office. Multiple California attorneys general have gone on to become governor; for Kamala Harris, the position was on her path to becoming vice president of the United States.

Bonta has repeatedly eyed a run for California governor himself, but passed on running amid this year’s crowded field. His high-profile cases against Trump and big business have made him a regular guest on cable news, exposing him to new voters and donors while also generating criticism that he’s motivated by politics and publicity.

“It’s ultimately a political decision to bring enforcement action, and the attorney general is trying to signal to the voters that it hears them and is representing their interests,” said Eric Goldman, professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law.

A Rising Star in California Politics

Bonta, 53, was born in the Philippines to Christian missionaries and immigrated to California as an infant. His parents worked for the United Farm Workers labor movement while Bonta was a child.

Bonta graduated high school as valedictorian before earning his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University, where he played on the soccer team.

Prior to his appointment as attorney general in 2021, he was a state assemblymember and a deputy city attorney in San Francisco. While in the California Assembly, Bonta worked on bail reform, a risky political endeavor given its relative disinterest from deep-pocket donors and fierce opposition from the bail-bond industry.

“He didn’t blink,” recalled Robert Hertzberg, who served as majority leader of the California State Senate from 2019 to 2022 and worked with Bonta on the legislation.

“There were no people that were giving political contributions because of this,” Hertzberg said. “There were no voters who were going to vote because of this. It was just the right thing to do.”

In 2022, Bonta was elected to a full term as attorney general. And the day his friend Harris lost the presidential election, the remainder of his term was clear: He would be, as one of the state’s top reporters wrote, “the face of California’s legal resistance” to President Donald Trump.

One day after Trump’s 2024 victory was declared, Bonta held a news conference in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and said, “You can be sure that as California Attorney General, if Trump attacks your rights, I’ll be there. If Trump comes after your freedoms, I’ll be there.”

On Trump’s first full day in office in January 2025, Bonta and other Democratic state attorneys general sued over Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s order in June 2026.

Meta Settlement

About 10 days into the trial between Meta and four states, including California, and shortly before Instagram head Adam Mosseri was set to retake the stand, the company agreed to the settlement. The agreement, which Bonta called “transformational,” includes sweeping changes to protections for teens on Meta’s platforms.

Meta was “lying to parents, not arming parents with the knowledge that they need to take steps to protect their kids, and so we’ve uncovered the truth,” Bonta told CNN.

Meta did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement, and $18 billion is a fraction of the $200 billion the company earned in income last year. But the settlement could lead to broader industry changes, with Meta saying it will only pay 70% of that amount unless TikTok and YouTube agree to similar changes.

Still, some view that unusual element of the settlement as a coup for Meta.

“Meta has put $5 billion behind the effort to get some of the most powerful law enforcement actors in our country to go and do its dirty work” to get its rivals to make changes so that Meta is not at a competitive disadvantage, Goldman said.

Child safety on social media isn’t Bonta’s only fight against the tech industry. His office has lawsuits pending against six tech companies, including antitrust actions against Apple and Live Nation. Earlier this year, he announced an investigation into Elon Musk’s xAI over allegations that its Grok chatbot was creating nonconsensual, explicit images of women and children.

Bonta has also backed child-safety legislation for AI companion chatbots.

Taking on Paramount

The 12-state case seeking to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is set to go to trial in March.

Bonta has become the face of the case, partly because California is a bigger state (and home to Paramount) and partly because Bonta has sought out attention with frequent interviews and social media posts.

His office spent months examining the merger, dividing Hollywood in the process.

Paramount’s allies have accused Bonta of hurting the industry and playing politics by blocking a media mega-merger that the federal government has already approved. But Bonta’s team is steadfast in its view that Trump’s government is dirty and derelict, favoring the president’s friends while harming the broader public.

Bonta told CNN that his office is essentially filling gaps left by the federal government: “Especially with a federal administration that is failing to do the critical work that federal administrations have traditionally done — like enforce civil rights, consumer protection, or antitrust law — I believe it’s incumbent upon states like California to step up and do more.”

Paramount executives argue that the WBD deal is pro-competitive and that the states’ lawsuit is destined to fail in court. But the suit has frozen Paramount and WBD in place, leading Paramount to publicly float the prospect of moving out of California. Bonta has said that talk amounts to “blackmail,” but other California political leaders have expressed concern about the possibility.

A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment about Bonta for this story.

Bonta has also said that he prefers to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom. But last week, he called off negotiations between the parties. He accused Paramount of leaking details of a meeting to reporters and “playing games,” which the company denied.

While the sweeping Meta settlement shows Bonta’s willingness to do deals, he told Politico that the Paramount case is different.

“There’s a contrast in that Meta was always going to stay here, never threatened to leave,” he said. “Paramount could do the same thing. But it requires Paramount to want to do that. They seem to want to blackmail and threaten.”

Still, settlement talks are likely in the coming weeks. But as Paramount and WBD hope for a quick resolution to an increasingly costly fight, they face an opponent who history shows is unlikely to back down.

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