Attorney General Alan Wilson advocates for accountability for social media platforms

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson joined a 29-state friend-of-the-court-brief defending Virginia’s social media age verification law.

“Our children are growing up in the Wild West of the digital age,” Attorney General Wilson said. “While Big Tech turns a blind eye, children are exposed daily to harmful and dangerous content on social media.”

The amicus’ central argument is that the First Amendment does not shield Meta and other technology companies from accountability. Over the last 15 years, adolescent depression rates have more than doubled while children have experienced rises in anxiety, low self-esteem, and eating disorders.

According to testimony before Congress, more than 25% of girls between the ages of 13 and 15 have received unwanted sexual advances on Instagram.

“We have laws in place to prevent children from accessing dangerous online content,” General Wilson continued. “It is imperative that we continue to protect children in a fast-moving digital and artificial intelligence era.” 

In filing this brief, Attorney General Wilson joined the attorneys general of Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

You can read the brief here.