Federal judge temporarily blocks Utah social media laws aimed to protect children

A federal judge in Utah has temporarily blocked social media access laws that leaders said were meant to protect the mental health and personal privacy of children, saying they are unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby on Tuesday issued the preliminary injunction against laws that would have required social media companies to verify the ages of their users, disable certain features and limit the use of accounts owned by Utah children.

The laws were set to take effect on Oct. 1, but will be blocked pending the outcome of the case filed by NetChoice, a nonprofit trade association for internet companies such as Google, Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — Snap and X.

The Utah legislature passed the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act to replace laws that were passed in 2023 and were challenged as unconstitutional. State officials believed the 2024 act would hold up in court.

But Shelby disagreed.

“The court recognizes the State’s earnest desire to protect young people from the novel challenges associated with social media use,” Shelby wrote in his order. However, the state has not articulated a compelling state interest in violating the First Amendment rights of the social media companies, he wrote.

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