Virginia passes law to limit daily time children under 16 can spend on social media

Virginia passed legislation to limit the time children under 16 can spend on social media per day. The amendment to the Consumer Data Protection Act had bipartisan support in the State Assembly and has already been signed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. The law will go into effect in January 2026.

According to the legislation, platforms such as Instagram and Facebook will have to use filtering mechanisms to determine users' ages and consequently their screen time, which will be a maximum of one hour a day. Parents will have to provide verifiable consent if they want to increase the time their children spend in front of social media.

Governor Youngkin, who may not seek a second term due to state law, initially wanted the bill to apply to those under 18. However, he clashed with the Democratic majority in the Legislature.

Governor Youngkin's crusade against excessive consumption of social media by children and adolescents

Youngkin has repeatedly spoken out against children and teens spending too much time consuming social media. For example, in November 2024, he signed an executive order creating the Reclaiming Childhood Task Force to "tackle a critical aspect of Virginia’s youth mental health crisis, the unrestricted use of cell phones and addictive social media platforms."

"Virginia and the nation’s children are facing a youth mental health crisis driven by the effects of unrestricted cell phone use and addictive social media platforms. The scope of this challenge is going to require all of us, private sector, non-profit organizations and government can support parents as they work to improve their children’s mental health," the governor said at the time.

The task force was charged with presenting recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly to "identify practical solutions to improve the mental health of youth."