Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed the into law last week, cracking down on the amount of time young people can spend scrolling on social media.
The measure, which had bipartisan support in the state鈥檚 general assembly, bans kids under 16 from using social media for more than one hour every day.
It also calls for a neutral approach to asking someone鈥檚 age when they create an account, and it says there has to be a way to accurately verify a young person鈥檚 age. The bill says companies can鈥檛 use the age information for anything else, and allows parents to increase or decrease the daily one-hour limit.
The law excludes platforms that are mainly used for email or direct messaging, streaming services and news sites.
Jennifer Golbeck, professor at the University of Maryland鈥檚 College of Information, said it鈥檚 unclear whether the law will have its intended effect.
鈥淚f we were to effectively say, 鈥楬ey, Instagram, TikTok, one hour for people under 16,鈥� I suspect what we鈥檙e going to see is other platforms popping up and kids figuring out creative ways to use them, or they鈥檙e just going to lie about their ages on the platforms they鈥檙e on already,鈥� Golbeck said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 huge questions about whether this law is going to have any real effect on the way that kids are using social media.鈥�
There is existing technology in place that sets limits on screen time for certain age brackets, but it鈥檚 more difficult to enforce if someone isn’t being truthful about their age, according to Megan Duncan, associate professor of journalism in Virginia Tech鈥檚 School of Communication.
Kids under 16 typically don鈥檛 have an ID, and using a passport or birth certificate could present privacy concerns.
There isn鈥檛 research that indicates one hour is a 鈥渕agical time,鈥� Duncan said, but limits could be useful because 鈥渨hen you鈥檙e younger and you don鈥檛 have that impulse control that adults develop later in life, you don鈥檛 have the ability to set those limits on your own.鈥�
There could be services that provide age verification, Golbeck said, but the practicality of that could be challenging.
鈥淚 expect if we don鈥檛 come up with a very burdensome way to do that, that we may default to asking kids what their age is, and then everybody鈥檚 going to say they鈥檙e over 18,鈥� Golbeck said.
There are similar questions surrounding parents submitting approval for changing the limit, and what steps they鈥檇 have to take to do it. As of a few years ago, if a parent wanted a young child to have unrestricted access to a site like Instagram, they鈥檇 have to fax a copy of their ID, Golbeck said.
鈥淚f you’re letting parents essentially change these rules anyway, parents could say ‘you get zero hours on social media according to this bill,’ parents could say ‘my kid can have as much time on social media as they want.’ Why is there a bill then?鈥� Golbeck said.
Duncan, meanwhile, said there鈥檚 public support for regulations on social media to address its addictiveness and mental health implications. She鈥檚 planning to monitor 鈥渢o what extent do social media companies push back in the court system about this law.鈥�
Golbeck said while there are many conversations about the negative impacts social media has, there are benefits to those platforms for people who feel socially isolated.
鈥淭he bill, while it is trying to address an important problem, really misses that there are vulnerable people who need community, and social media supports finding that community, and we’re taking that all away with this kind of bill,鈥� Golbeck said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 actually where a lot of the real harms lie with this.鈥�
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