Law / United States / 
Virginia
SB 854 (2025), social media platforms; responsibilities and prohibitions related to minors
Va. Code § 59.1-577.1 (2025 Va. Acts c. 703)
A social media and minors rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- No
- Penalties
- Civil penalties enforced by the Attorney General.
- Age threshold
- 16
- Covered services
- Social media platforms operating in Virginia.
- Verification methods
- Self declaration, Device signal, Parental consent
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- If you operate a social media platform in Virginia, use commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen, to determine whether a user is under 16.
- Limit a user under 16 to one hour of daily use per platform unless a parent gives verifiable consent to change the limit.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Virginia Attorney General (enforcement preliminarily enjoined).
Litigation
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division
- Docket
- NetChoice v. Jones (originally filed as NetChoice v. Miyares), No. 1:25-cv-2067 (PTG/LRV)
- Posture
- Preliminary injunction granted on First Amendment grounds, the court finding the law content based and not narrowly tailored. The Attorney General filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on .
Settledness
The Attorney General's appeal of the preliminary injunction, Fourth Circuit No. 26-1252, is on the court's argument calendar for October 27 to 30, 2026.
- As of
- Under challenge
- Yes
- Open questions
- What makes a method "commercially reasonable" for determining whether a user is a minor under Va. Code Section 59.1-577.1(B), and is a "neutral age screen mechanism" the only method that qualifies?
- Which device settings or signals must a platform honor as a device that "communicates or signals that the user is or shall be treated as a minor" under Va. Code Section 59.1-577.1(C)?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 59.1-577.1 requires a controller or processor that operates a social media platform to use commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen, to determine whether a user is a minor and to limit a minor to one hour per day (subsection B), and subsection C limits the use of information collected to determine age. It names no log, no record of the determination, no retention period and no regulator access to a record. The use limit in subsection C restricts what the age information may be used for and sets no retention rule.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Amends the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act to require social media platforms to use commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen, to determine whether a user is under 16, and to limit such minors to one hour of daily use per platform unless a parent gives verifiable consent to change the limit.
How courts have read itPremium data
Our analysis of this law draws on 1 court ruling.
What each ruling held, what it means for an app, and whether it still stands are premium data, in the Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.
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