A newly passed Virginia law that limits young social media users screen time to one hour has been challenged by tech companies who claim that the law violates freedom of speech.
The law, which is set to take effect on January 1st, would include age verification for social media users and allow parents to increase or decrease allowed social media time.
The bill’s passage made Virginia one of at least nine states that has either restricted or banned social media use by minors in recent years as concerns about explicit content and overuse of social media by minors continues to grow.
NetChoice, a tech association that filed a lawsuit after Virginia’s bill passed, said that the bill runs afoul of First Amendment protections because the government cannot impose time limits on exercises of speech. (RELATED: Governor Glenn Youngkin At Odds With Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger)
“The First Amendment forbids government from imposing time-limits on access to lawful speech,” said Paul Taske, co-director of the NetChoice Litigation Center in a statement. “Virginia’s government cannot force you to read a book in one-hour chunks, and it cannot force you to watch a movie or documentary in state-preferred increments. That does not change when the speech in question happens online.”
The bill’s passage and subsequent lawsuit came just before a newly released court filing that found that social media giant Meta has routinely ignored sex trafficking issues on its platforms and content that significantly exacerbated mental health issues for youth and teenagers.
Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being Vaishnavi Jayakumar testified that numerous accounts accused of violating the platform’s laws on prostitution and sex trafficking were warned 17 times before their accounts were suspended.
A spokesperson for Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin defended the law, saying that it is a necessary tool for parents to protect their children from the corrosive effects of unrestricted social media use.
“Social media has been repeatedly identified as a key driver of alarming behavioral health trends, such as depression and suicidal ideation, among young Virginians,” Youngkin’s spokesperson said. “Parents need help pushing back with reasonable guardrails and consumer protections on this omnipresent technology.”