• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

A divided federal appeals court on Monday rejected Virginia's request to lift a block on a law requiring social platforms to verify users' ages, and prohibit minors under 16 from accessing social media for more than one hour a day without parental consent.

The statute, SB 854, had been slated to take effect in January, but was blocked on First Amendment grounds by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria.

She said in a March ruling that 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," and prohibited officials from attempting to enforce the statute against any NetChoice members.

NetChoice, which had sued over the law, counts big tech companies including Meta Platforms, YouTube, Reddit, and Dreamwidth as members.

Giles also ruled the law's age-verification requirements would impede adults' ability to access speech.

State Attorney General Jay Jones appealed that ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and also asked the circuit court to lift the block while the appeal is pending.

"Social media is addictive and harmful to children,” Jones argued in his bid to immediately enforce the law.

He added that the statute "targets social media addiction and imposes only incidental hurdles to accessing social media," and claimed that NetChoice failed to prove "that any child will be prevented from accessing desired content or that any platform will be unable to convey their own expression."

Jones also contended that the age-verification provisions don't "meaningfully impair adults' access to social media," arguing that the requirement is comparable to laws requiring people to prove their ages before buying alcohol.

A 4th Circuit panel turned down Jones' request Monday by a 2-1 vote. Circuit Judges DeAndrea Gist Benjamin (a Biden appointee) and James Harvie Wilkinson III (a Reagan appointee) voted to preserve the injunction while the appeal proceeds, while Circuit Judge Roger Gregory (nominated by Clinton and re-nominated by George W. Bush) voted to grant the attorney general's request to immediately lift the block.