                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

(EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2026) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS; RESPONSIBILITIES AND
PROHIBITIONS RELATED TO MINORS (§ 59.1-577.1)

A. For purposes of this section, &#8220;minor&#8221; means any natural person
younger than 16 years of age.

B. Any controller or processor that operates a social media platform shall (i)
use commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen mechanism, to
determine whether a user is a minor and (ii) limit a minor&#8217;s use of such
social media platform to one hour per day, per service or application, and allow
a parent to give verifiable parental consent to increase or decrease the daily
time limit.

C. Information collected for the purpose of determining a user&#8217;s age shall
not be used for any purpose other than age determination and provision of
age-appropriate experiences. For purposes of this section, any controller or
processor that operates a social media platform shall treat a user as a minor if
the user&#8217;s device communicates or signals that the user is or shall be
treated as a minor, including through a browser plug-in or privacy setting,
device setting, or other mechanism.

D. Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring any controller or
processor that operates a social media platform to give a parent who grants
verifiable parental consent pursuant to subsection B any additional or special
access to or control over the data or accounts of the minor.

E. No controller or processor that operates a social media platform shall
withhold, degrade, lower the quality of, or increase the price of any online
service, product, or feature to a user due to the controller or processor not
being permitted to provide use of such social media platform beyond the one hour
per day, per service or application, daily time limit under subsection B.
However, nothing in this section shall be construed as (i) requiring a social
media platform to provide an online service, product, or feature that requires
the personal information of a known minor or (ii) prohibiting a social media
platform from offering a different price, rate, level, quality, or selection of
goods or services to a known minor, including offering goods or services for no
fee, if such behavior is reasonably related to the exercise of rights pursuant
to or compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

HISTORY: 2025, c. 703.