Judge blocks Virginia law restricting social media for children

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday blocked Virginia from enforcing a new law that aimed to protect children from being addicted to social media by requiring age verification and limiting use by those under 16 to one hour per day.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, said the technology trade group NetChoice was likely to establish that the law unconstitutionally infringed the free speech rights of adults, children and its dozens of members, including Google (GOOGL.O) Meta Platforms (META.O) Netflix (NFLX.O) Reddit (RDDT.N) and Elon Musk's X.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction against the law known as Senate Bill 854, which had been signed last May by then-Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and took effect on January 1, 2026.

NetChoice has also challenged similar laws in states, including California.

Virginia argued that the law was reasonably tailored to protect children from the "addictive features" of social media, and address a mental health crisis among youth.

But the judge said that notwithstanding Virginia's interest in protecting children, the law was both overinclusive by requiring everyone, including adults, to verify their age, and underinclusive by exempting potentially addictive interactive gaming from coverage.

She also said the law treats "functionally equivalent" speech differently by preventing children from watching, for example, science, history and church programming lasting more than an hour that they could watch elsewhere, including streaming platforms.

"The court recognizes the Commonwealth’s compelling interest in protecting its youth from the harms associated with the addictive aspects of social media," wrote Giles, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden. "However, it cannot infringe on First Amendment rights, including those of the same youth it aims to protect."

Rae Pickett, a spokesperson for Virginia's Democratic Attorney General Jay Jones, said after the decision: "We look forward to continuing to enforce laws that empower parents to protect their children from the proven harms that can come through social media."

Paul Taske, co-director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, welcomed the decision.

"This ruling reaffirms that the government cannot ration access to lawful speech - even if it has noble intentions," he said in a statement. "Fundamentally, parents must stay in the driver’s seat when it comes to decisions about their families."