SALT LAKE CITY — A coalition of social media and tech firms filed a lawsuit on Monday against the state of Utah over its social media regulations.
The lawsuit by the trade group NetChoice, filed in federal court in Salt Lake City, accuses the state of infringing on the First Amendment free expression rights of Utahns through laws passed earlier this year that seek to regulate youth access to social media platforms. The law requires some sort of age-verification and includes restrictions on targeted advertising and personalized content. The litigation accuses Utah's laws of being too broad.
"It would place multiple restrictions on minors’ and adults’ ability to access these websites. In some cases, the Act blocks access altogether. The Act restricts who can express themselves, what can be said, and when and how speech on covered websites can occur, down to the very hours of the day minors can use covered websites. Worse, the Act treats all minors the same, ignoring the differences between the websites’ youngest users and 17-year-olds. It would therefore leave Utah minors worse off relative to their peers across the country. And the Act ignores the many tools that parents can choose to shape their children’s online experiences. The First Amendment, reinforced by decades of precedent, allows none of this," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also claims different platforms are targeted differently. YouTube must comply with Utah's laws, yet Netflix isn't required to. X (formerly Twitter) must comply, but apps like Bluesky and Gab don't. Nextdoor is and isn't depending on the topic, the lawsuit alleges, and minors must have parental consent to use Roblox.
Utah's law does not take effect until March of next year. Recently, Utah's Department of Commerce put forward proposed rules that would govern how social media platforms can operate within the state.
NetChoice argues it's a ban on adults accessing the internet, too.
"This is the type of authoritarian actions you see out of countries like China or Iran, not something you see out of Salt Lake City," Carl Szabo, the vice-president and general counsel for NetChoice, said in an interview Monday with FOX 13 News.
Szabo accused Utah of "age-gating" by requiring everyone to upload some sort of identification to prove they are legally of age to access a social media site.
"What that means is everyone in the state of Utah will be required to turn over massive amounts of sensitive and personal information to social media websites, just to access the sites and services they can access today. It’s a gross violation of the First Amendment," he said.
In a statement to FOX 13 News, the Utah Attorney General's Office said it is "reviewing the lawsuit but remains intently focused on the goal of this legislation: Protecting young people from negative and harmful effects of social media use."
Governor Spencer Cox and other state leaders have repeatedly spoken out against social media platforms they accuse of targeting youth and hooking them on their platforms, harming their mental health. Recently, it was disclosed in a court hearing that the state may have multiple investigations under way into TikTok.
NetChoice is a coalition of tech and social media groups including some currently being sued by the state of Utah, including Meta (which owns Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok. The state has accused Meta and TikTok of harming the mental health of Utah's youth through addictive algorithms and targeted advertising. Those cases are currently being litigated.
NetChoice has argued that instead of legislation like what Utah has passed, it engage in more robust "digital wellness" education program that other states have adopted.
Read the lawsuit here:
