• by Wendy Davis , 8 hours ago

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has asked a federal appeals court to lift a block on a new law requiring social platforms to verify users' ages and prohibit minors under 16 from accessing the platforms for more than one hour a day without parental consent.

That law "strikes a careful balance between access to social media and overuse," the attorney general argues in papers filed Monday with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jones adds that Virginia "will be irreparably harmed if it cannot enforce its laws to protect its children."

U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria ruled late last month that the law (SB 854) likely violates the First Amendment, and prohibited the state from enforcing the statute against Meta Platforms, YouTube, Reddit, Dreamwidth and other members of the tech group NetChoice.

"Virginia does not have the legal authority to block minors’ access to constitutionally protected speech until their parents give their consent by overriding a government-imposed default limit," Giles wrote in a 27-page opinion.

She added that the statute's age verification requirement would impede adults' and minors' ability to access lawful speech.

NetChoice sued over the law last November, arguing it would intervere with minors' ability to access "vital channels of communication, education, and self-expression," while also imposing "burdensome age verification on millions of adults."

Among other arguments, NetChoice said the law would restrict minors' access to educational and religious material.

The statute "would bar a 15-year-old from spending more than one hour a day on YouTube watching online church services, even if the minor does not spend time on YouTube otherwise," NetChoice wrote.

Twenty-nine state attorneys general backed the law, arguing in a friend-of-the-court brief that the statute was "narrowly tailored to address Virginia’s compelling interest in protecting kids."

The attorneys general also argued that teens under 16 have "more limited" First Amendment rights than older teens, and that states "have an even greater interest in protecting them because they are more vulnerable to the harms posed by platforms."

The 4th Circuit has asked NetChoice to respond to Virginia's request by March 17.