On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state of Utah from restricting social media use by minors. Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed the Utah Social Media Minors Protection Act in early March. The law was set to take effect on October 1, but the court’s decision to block it marks a victory for Utah’s young social media users.
This isn’t the first time Utah’s governor has tried to restrict social media use among young people in the state. Last year, the governor signed two bills that required parental permission for teenagers to create social media accounts, but those accounts had restrictions like curfews and age verification. The governor replaced the older laws in March after a lawsuit was filed challenging their legality.
The law would require social media companies to verify the age of all users. Once a minor registers for an account, various restrictions would be imposed. Any content shared by a minor would only be viewable by the connected account. Additionally, minors’ accounts would be unable to be searched or messaged by anyone other than followers and friends, effectively making them non-existent to strangers.
The primary reason for the preliminary injunction was the argument that the law violates the First Amendment by NetChoice, a trade group formed by tech giants including X (formerly Twitter), Snap, Meta and Google. The group has won legal battles and successfully blocked similar laws in whole or in part in states including Arkansas, California and Texas.
