On January 1, Virginia teenagers under the age of 16 will be limited to one hour of screen time on each major social media platform.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) signed into law a bipartisan-supported amendment to the state’s Consumer Data Protection Act, which will require social media companies to limit children ages 16 or under to one hour per day per application. It also allows parents to increase or decrease that daily limit for their child.
The bill puts the onus on social media companies to “use commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen mechanism, to determine” the minor’s age, according to the state bill’s description. The bill’s supporters championed the legislation as a measure to diminish the negative mental health effects of social media on teenagers.
“Behavioral health distress among teens surged at the same time as increased use of social media and cell phones. That’s why Virginia is leading on Bell-to-Bell Cell Phone-Free Education in schools across the Commonwealth—and with a new law taking effect January 1 that will restrict social media use for kids under 16 to one hour per day, unless they have a parent’s permission,” Youngkin wrote on X Wednesday.
Virginia state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, a history teacher at Glen Allen High School in Henrico County, cosponsored the bill. He told WJLA that he has seen how excessive screen time affects students, that it “hinders their ability to do well in school” and “hinders their socialization with their friends.”
However, the bill could face legal hurdles, as NetChoice, a trade association incorporating companies such as YouTube and Meta, filed a lawsuit against the state over the bill.
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“This new law, set to go in effect on January 1, 2026, bars Virginians’ access to valuable, lawful speech simply because it happens online,” NetChoice’s Litigation Center Co-Director Paul Taske wrote. “Such a restriction is no different than a law that curbs the time spent reading books, watching documentaries on TV or even having in-person conversations, and it violates the First Amendment.”
How exactly the state will enforce the new law remains unclear, according to WJLA. The bill is set to take effect on Thursday.
