A federal court has put the brakes on Virginia’s attempt to ration screen time for minors, ruling that the state’s new social media restrictions likely collide with the First Amendment.
At issue was Senate Bill 854, a measure that required platforms to verify users’ ages and limited anyone under 16 to just one hour per day on social media apps. The law had been signed by former Governor Glenn Youngkin and took effect at the start of the year.
But U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria concluded that the law went too far — and not far enough — all at once.
The challenge was brought by NetChoice, a tech industry trade group whose members include giants such as Google, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Reddit and X. The group argued that Virginia’s approach intruded on the free speech rights of adults and children alike.
In granting a preliminary injunction, the judge signaled that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed. She described the statute as “overinclusive” because it forced all users — including adults — to verify their age before accessing lawful speech. At the same time, she said, the measure was “underinclusive” because it carved out entire categories of potentially immersive digital content, such as interactive gaming.
The opinion underscored a deeper constitutional tension. Even with a stated goal of shielding young people from compulsive platform design and mounting mental health concerns, the government cannot sidestep fundamental speech protections. The court pointed out that the law would have barred minors from watching more than an hour of content on social platforms — including science lessons, historical discussions or religious programming — even though the same material could be freely consumed elsewhere online.
Virginia officials defended the statute as a targeted effort to curb what they described as addictive features driving a youth mental health crisis. After the ruling, a spokesperson for Attorney General Jay Jones said the state remains committed to enforcing laws that give parents tools to safeguard their children in the digital sphere.
NetChoice, for its part, hailed the decision as a rebuke to government-imposed limits on lawful expression. The group maintained that decisions about children’s media use belong primarily to families, not lawmakers.
The fight in Virginia mirrors similar courtroom battles unfolding across the country, as states test how far they can go in regulating platforms that dominate the daily lives — and screens — of American teenagers.
