State lawmakers’ second swing at imposing requirements on social media companies with the goal of limiting young Utahns’ access to their platforms won’t take effect as soon as the Legislature planned after a federal judge blocked the law Tuesday, saying it likely violates the First Amendment.
Initially scheduled to take effect in October, a district judge put the law on hold while the case continues because he said it “imposes unjustified, content-based restrictions on social media companies’ speech”— the speech being the decisions they make about how their platforms operate.
“The court recognizes the State’s earnest desire to protect young people from the novel challenges associated with social media use,” U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby wrote.
He continued, “But owing to the First Amendment’s paramount place in our democratic system, even well-intentioned legislation that regulates speech based on content must satisfy a tremendously high level of constitutional scrutiny. And on the record before the court, Defendants have yet to show the act does.”
Passed earlier this year in response to pleas from parents to curb the mental health harms they say are caused by the apps, the law requires social media companies to verify every user’s age and implement default privacy settings for anyone under 18 years old.
Those settings, which can only be changed with parental consent, restrict the account’s visibility and control what personal data the company can collect. The platforms also must disable “features that prolong user engagement” for that account, like autoplay and those that encourage continuous scrolling.
The senator who proposed the bill, Spanish Fork Republican Mike McKell, said in a statement, “These apps are aggravating an already growing mental health crisis, especially among young people, and the data underscore the need to take action. While disappointed by this ruling, Utah will continue to lead the nation in this fight against social media’s harmful impacts on the unsupervised industry while providing parents with more resources, tools and controls.”
NetChoice, a conglomerate of online businesses, including internet giants like X and the parent companies for Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, said in a statement shared with The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday that if the law had been enforced, it “would backfire and endanger the very people it’s meant to help.”
Steven Lehotsky, an attorney representing NetChoice, told Shelby in an August hearing that the First Amendment doesn’t have an age limit and that curtailing who can see a young person’s post on social media quashes their voice.
Citing climate activist Greta Thunberg, who began advocating for environmental stewardship online at 15 years old, he said, “There is speech from minors in Utah who are like that, who have something important to say.”
NetChoice is also pursuing challenges of similar laws passed in states across the country and has secured a half dozen injunctions on such restrictions.
“The District Court’s thoughtful decision highlights just how flawed this law is at its core,” their statement said. “With this now sixth injunction against these overreaching laws, we hope policymakers will focus on meaningful and constitutional solutions for the digital age.”
Spokespeople for the Legislature did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, which is defending the law, said it is disappointed in the decision and is working to determine their next steps. “We remain committed to protecting Utah’s youth from social media’s harmful effects,” he added.
On Monday, 42 attorneys general across the country — including Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes — sent a letter to Congress urging Washington to require a surgeon general’s warning of social media’s mental health harms on the platforms.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also expressed disappointment in a statement shared with The Tribune, but said, “We always knew that this could be a long battle. And it is a battle worth waging, as the harm social media is causing our children continues.”
He added, “Let’s be clear: social media companies could voluntarily, at this very moment, do everything that the law put in place to protect our children. But they refuse to do so. Instead, they continue to prioritize their profits over our children’s well-being. This must stop, and Utah will continue to lead the fight.”
A separate law passed this year that allows young Utahns to sue social media companies for mental health harms if the platforms fail to take action to curb children’s time using their apps remains unchallenged, and will take effect Oct. 1.
South Jordan Republican Rep. Jordan Teuscher, who co-sponsored the enjoined law and proposed the one giving young people the power to sue, said in a statement, “We will press forward, confident that the courts will ultimately recognize the constitutionality of this law, and we will not rest until every safeguard is in place to ensure a safer, healthier future for Utah’s youth.”