Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act - S.B.194 / H.B.464

Summary

The Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act is a pair of bills that replaced the Utah Social Media Regulation Act after that law was challenged on First Amendment grounds by industry trade group NetChoice.

H.B.464, or the "Social Media Amendments," would hold social media companies that use algorithmic curation liable for any mental health problems their platforms cause to minor users in Utah and includes a private right of action provision that allows a minor's parents to bring legal action against a platform. The company can claim immunity from legal action if they can prove they obtained parental consent for the minor’s use of the platform, removed features causing excessive use (i.e., autoplay, perpetually scrolling), displayed content chronologically, and limited the minor’s time of the platform. If the minor’s adverse mental health outcome is determined in court to have been caused by the social media’s curation algorithms, they are entitled to an award of at least $10,000 for each adverse mental health outcome or the amount of actual damages. The social media company cannot be found liable for the content being posted on their sites or their refusal to remove such content. S.B.194, or the "Social Media Regulation Amendments," would require social media companies to set a minor's privacy settings to maximum by default, restrict minor accounts' visibility, and offer supervisory tools for a minor's parent or guardian, among other requirements. The "age verification" requirements, which were challenged as unconstitutional, found in the previous version of the bill (S.B.152), were struck and replaced with "age assurance" methods.

Despite Utah lawmakers' efforts to create legislation that would pass constitutional scrutiny, the court granted a preliminary injunction to NetChoice against the Amendments over First Amendment challenges to the law.

Updates

February 7, 2024. Passed committee by a vote of 7 to 0, sent to Senate.

February 21, 2024. Passed the Senate by a vote of 21 to 1 and sent to the House.

February 28, 2024. Amended and passed House by a vote of 61 to 11, sent to Senate for amendment approval.

February 28, 2024. Senate passes amendment by a vote of 26 to 0.

March 13, 2024. Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law.

May 3, 2024. NetChoice and a group of Utah social media users filed a second complaint against the Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and Katherine Hass, Director of the Utah Department of Commerce's Consumer Protection Division, challenging the constitutionality of the law.

July 24, 2024. Chief Judge Robert J. Shelby for the US District Court for the District of Utah dismissed Count VI of the NetChoice and Hass suits, claiming "Section 230 does not preempt the Act’s prohibitions on the use of autoplay, seamless pagination, and notifications on minors’ accounts."

September 10, 2024. Judge Shelby granted NetChoice's request for a preliminary injunction. (NetChoice v. Reyes).