Virginia has enacted a significant measure to combat youth mental health issues by limiting social media scrolling for users under 16 to one hour daily. This bill is part of Governor Glenn Youngkin's strategy to address concerns over the impact of unrestricted cellphone use among adolescents. Alongside this, Virginia's public schools are following suit by banning cellphones. Social media companies are tasked with developing a method to verify users' ages compliance with the new law, but specific enforcement strategies remain undisclosed.
Traditionally, social media platforms have kind of skirted that issue by just having a front page saying, 'Are you 18 or over? If so, click yes. If not, go away,'.
This policy marks another move on Youngkin's part to mitigate what he has called 'a youth mental health crisis driven by the effects of unrestricted cell phone use.'
According to UVA computer science professor Gabe Robins, the bill does specifically require them to implement neutral age screens—basically a mechanism to verify users' age.
None of these companies have publicly shared details of their enforcement plans at this point, but the bill does specifically require them to implement neutral age screens.
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