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VA AG Enforces VCDPA Minor Social Media Time Limits with $7.5K Fines

Social Media PlatformsJanuary 1, 2026Virginia Attorney General

Summary

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced intent to enforce new provisions of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act that limit minors' social media usage to one hour per day without parental consent. The law, effective January 1, 2026, requires age verification and verifiable parental consent to change time limits, with potential penalties up to $7,500 per violation and injunctive relief. This follows a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by NetChoice challenging the law.

Remedy

Enforcement actions may result in civil penalties up to $7,500 per violation and injunctive relief to stop violating conduct, with a 30-day cure period before filing suit.

Monetary PenaltyInjunction

Contract Impact

In-house legal teams should review all agreements involving minor users or their parents, including Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, Parental Consent Agreements, and any data processing addendums with social media platforms. Specific clauses to scrutinize are those governing age verification methods, enforcement of daily time limits (e.g., one-hour cap), processes for obtaining and managing verifiable parental consent to modify limits, and provisions related to usage monitoring and compliance reporting. Changes may be needed to implement robust age-screening technologies, integrate real-time time-tracking features, establish clear parental consent workflows with audit trails, and update penalty/indemnification clauses to reflect potential $7,500 per-violation liabilities and injunctive relief risks under the VCDPA.

Contract Search Terms

age verification mechanismverifiable parental consentdaily time limitminor user definitionparental overrideusage tracking systemopt-out mechanismtime restriction enforcementage gateconsent workflow

Laws Cited

Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act

Violation Types

Entity Details

Entity

Social Media Platforms

Industry

Social Media

Official Sources

Source Evidence

Entity Name
"social media platforms"
Laws Cited
"Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act"
Violation Types
"limit a minor’s use of social media platform to one hour per day"

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