SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's controversial social media law is likely to undergo a rewrite.
Senate leaders confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that the law would likely see a new version in the legislative session. Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, filed a bill to delay implementation of the law from March to October. That bill passed out of a committee with a unanimous vote on Wednesday.
But Sen. Cullimore confirmed that the primary law, which sets regulations for social media platforms on age-verification, parental consent, algorithms, advertising and data collection, would likely see a rewrite in the legislative session.
"Back to the drawing board," he said. "All the same principles will be there to protect minors, it just may be in a different format than having the Department of Commerce developing rules on how they comply."
The bill will likely emerge within the next week.
Utah is being sued by a coalition representing social media platforms as well as social media users over the law. NetChoice, which represents the platforms, has argued the law stifles free speech and expression. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression also sued Utah, saying the law "second-guesses Utah families’ judgments about how to manage young people’s social media use, imposing a heavy-handed state dictate riddled with unconstitutional restrictions."
In a statement to FOX 13 News, NetChoice said their case would proceed.
"It doesn’t matter if this law goes into effect tomorrow, or on March 1, or later; it doesn’t change the merits of our case," said the group's vice-president and general counsel, Carl Szabo.
Utah political leaders have gotten aggressive against social media platforms, accusing them of crafting addictive algorithms that harm the mental health of youth. The state itself is suing TikTok and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram).
