Virginia sued over new social media age verification law

Trade association NetChoice filed a lawsuit on November 17, 2025, challenging Virginia Senate Bill 854, which restricts social media use to one hour per day for children under 16 and requires social media companies to verify the age of all users. The law, signed by Governor Youngkin in May 2025, takes effect January 1, 2026, and was previously amended from a bill to regulate addictive social media feeds for users under 18 after a similar bill was rejected by a subcommittee.

Time limits and age gates address volume and access but not the nature of the contact that occurs within the permitted window. A child can be groomed, extorted or coerced in minutes, and the threat is not diluted by restricting exposure to an hour. Detection that identifies the harmful pattern in the direct-message exchange as it unfolds, blocking escalation and sustained targeting before harm occurs, addresses the risk itself rather than the duration of exposure. Guardii surfaces the child in acute danger to a parent or school in real time, enabling intervention when it matters, not when the clock runs out.