RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Thursday that he will introduce a bill to restrict people under 18 from accessing TikTok, saying the social media platform is bad for children's mental health.
The Republican governor announced the proposed bill during an event Thursday for the first anniversary of his Right Help, Right Now behavioral health initiative. It comes after Youngkin banned TikTok from government devices and Wi-Fi last year.
Youngkin says that social media in general is having "severe and persistent negative impacts on our kids," including issues like a lack of social skills, cyberbullying and online drug dealing.
"I'm announcing that I will introduce legislation to restrict youth access to TikTok... full stop, we will introduce the bill," the governor said.
He also said he would introduce legislation to protect children from social media marketing and the use and selling of their data, as well as several other bills he says would help protect children from social media marketing strategies he called "addictive."
Youngkin did not say when the bills would be introduced.