Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
Recent developments underscore a growing global trend towards increased protection for minors using the Internet. Virginia is amending its Virginia Consumer Data Privacy Act to limit minors’ social media use to one hour per day per platform unless otherwise determined by a parent. Social media companies are also required to verify user age or obtain parental consent when necessary.
In doing so, Virginia is following Australia’s footsteps, where a law banning social media use for minors under 16 was recently enacted and is set to take effect by the end of the year. The Australian eSafety Commissioner’s 2024 report, published last month, found that 80% of Australian children easily circumvented self-reporting-based age restrictions on social media platforms. The Commissioner emphasized the importance of robust age verification tools to effectively enforce age-based restrictions.
Meanwhile, several litigation efforts were allowed to move forward. An Israeli court recently ruled that OpenAI can be sued in Israel, rather than in California, for not adequately preventing minors from accessing and being exposed to inappropriate content on ChatGPT. This decision could have significant implications for the jurisdictional reach of legal actions against global tech companies concerning child safety.
In the U.S., a federal court allowed a lawsuit alleging liability in social media platforms’ addictive nature to proceed. The court permitted the negligence claims to move forward. These claims allege that the platforms are structured in a manner that unreasonably creates or increases the foreseeable risk of addiction and harm to the physical and mental health of young users. This decision suggests that social media companies could potentially be liable for their platform’s addictive design and its impact on children’s well-being.
Click here to read the Israeli Court decision regarding OpenAI (in Hebrew).
Click here to read the U.S. federal court decision regarding the social media platform case.
Click here to read the Australian eSafety Commissioner’s 2024 report.
Click here to read the full text of the amendment to the Virginia Consumer Data Privacy Act.
