Utah has become the latest state to try and legally protect minors from privacy violations on social media but has been thwarted by a federal judge blocking its proposed legislation.
On Tuesday September 10, Judge Robert Shelby of a federal district court imposed a preliminary injunction on a bill that is designed to mandate age verification for users of social media sites. It would also have required that privacy settings and limited features be imposed on certain accounts, based on age.
The law—called the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act—was on track to take effect on October 1. However, it is now blocked until the resolution of a lawsuit filed by NetChoice, a trade group for digital businesses like Google, Meta, Snap, and X.
The legislation was passed by the state with the hopes of successfully installing protection for kids on social media without infringing upon constitutional rights.
Last year, GOP Gov. Spencer Cox became the first state leader to sign such bills. He approved two pieces of legislation that required age verification, mandated parental consent for minors to make social media accounts, and required companies to give parents access to their children’s accounts, including posts and messages.
These bills were later found to be unconstitutional, sparking the updated legislation as an effort to avoid falling into the same pitfalls—and lawmakers expected it to work. But Judge Shelby wrote that the current legislation failed to “articulate a compelling state interest” in what he said would be an infringement on First Amendment freedoms of social media platforms.
The judge also acknowledged that the legislation represents an “earnest desire” to keep children from being subjected to the “challenges associated with social media.”
In response to the injunction, Gov. Cox expressed his frustration that the bill has been stalled yet voiced his commitment to the concept, describing it as a “battle worth waging.” He said in a statement that social media businesses “could voluntarily” work to have the law enacted “to protect” minors, adding that they “refuse to do so.” But he maintained that “Utah will continue” to be a leader in “the fight” against digital companies which “prioritize” financial gain over “our children’s wellbeing.”
