• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

A Virginia law requiring social platforms to verify users' ages and prohibit minors under 13 from accessing the platforms for more than one hour a day, without parental consent, violates the First Amendment, the tech group NetChoice claims in a new lawsuit.

"The state cannot begin to show that its age verification and time limit restrictions are necessary to advance any legitimate interest it may assert," NetChoice alleges in a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. 

The organization, which counts large tech companies including Google, Meta and Snap as members, adds that parents already have tools to limit children's use of online services.

"Virginia may wish that more Virginians shared its own views about whether and how much minors should use 'social media platforms,'" the group writes. "But while the state may take many steps to protect minors from harm, including by persuading parents to take advantage of tools to limit their minor children’s access to 'social media platforms,' it may not take matters into its own hands and restrict access itself." 

The law, SB 854, was passed earlier this year and is slated to take effect in January 2026.

NetChoice writes that unless the measure is blocked, it will "inflict immediate and severe First Amendment and financial injuries" on the group's members.

The organization also argues that the law restricts teens' ability access to "large swaths of constitutionally protected speech," noting that the one-hour time limit would apply "even if all a teenager wants to do is to attend church services on Facebook or view educational materials on YouTube."

NetChoice says the statute "seems to be animated" by the concern that teens spend too much time on social media, adding that it is "highly doubtful" that Virginia "has a legitimate interest in restricting minors’ ability to access and interact with protected speech just because it thinks they are spending too much time doing so."

"Some minors undoubtedly spend more than one hour a day reading graphic novels, playing video games, watching movies, or binging television series. That hardly empowers Virginia to insert itself into homes throughout the state and second-guess the parenting choices of its residents about what content and in what quantity is appropriate for their minor children," NetChoice writes.

"Just as Virginia could not restrict minors from visiting the library because some might come across Fifty Shades of Grey, or because some might spend more than one hour a day reading The Hunger Games, Virginia may not restrict minors from accessing 'social media' websites just because some minors may spend more time on them than the Commonwealth thinks they should."