Virginia’s effort to cap kids’ use of social media apps to one hour per day is being challenged by NetChoice, a group that represents Discord, Meta, Reddit, X, and others.
Virginia’s SB 854 requires social media platforms to verify users’ age and limits those under 16 to one hour of screen time per app. If a kid wants to increase the daily limit, the platform is required to seek parental consent. Signed into law in May, it’s set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
NetChoice, which has opposed similar social media laws in other states, argues that “imposing government-mandated time limits on social media use is no different than restricting reading books or watching documentaries, and it violates the First Amendment.”
NetChoice also highlights the potential cybersecurity risk associated with asking people to provide sensitive details for age verification, using “commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen mechanism.”
Additionally, the lawsuit criticizes Virginia and other states for deciding what’s best for kids’ online activity instead of leaving that decision to parents.
The Constitution “leaves the power to decide what speech is appropriate for minors where it belongs: with their parents,” NetChoice argues. “Nevertheless, some states have recently taken it upon themselves to try to restrict minors’ access to constitutionally protected speech on some of the most popular online services. Courts across the country have rejected those efforts as inconsistent with the First Amendment.”
In August, the Supreme Court declined to block a Mississippi social media law that requires social media platforms to verify a user’s age at sign-up and request consent from their parents if they are found to be a minor. NetChoice also sued over that one, again on First Amendment grounds. Justice Brett Kavanaugh found that NetChoice would likely “succeed on the merits” in the end, but hadn’t demonstrated “that the law needs to be blocked during the appeals process.”
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NetChoice has had some success taking on state-level social media bills, including in Arkansas and Ohio. But it’s become a bit of a whack-a-mole situation, in the US and overseas. In April, Chamber of Progress, a group that includes Apple, Amazon, and Google among its partners, encouraged Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to veto SB 854, calling it “a legal time bomb.”
“If signed, it will blow up in court just like similar laws in other states – wasting taxpayer dollars while doing nothing to protect kids online,” Chamber of Progress Northeast Government Relations Director Brianna January said at the time.
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Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.
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