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SALT LAKE CITY — A tech industry trade group has sued Utah's attorney general, alleging the state's recent Social Media Regulation Act is unconstitutional and is asking the courts to halt the law before it is scheduled to go into effect in March.
NetChoice, which represents a coalition of tech companies, filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday, naming Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and Division of Consumer Protection Director Katherine Hass as defendants.
The lawsuit targets the landmark legislation championed by Gov. Spencer Cox which is aimed at protecting teenagers from the alleged harms social media can have on mental health by requiring that minors get parental consent before signing up, and establishes parental controls for minors' accounts, among other provisions.
The law also makes it easier for private individuals to sue social media companies for alleged harms.
Industry groups rallied against the law during this year's legislative session, and opponents have said it presents free speech and privacy concerns.
NetChoice echoed those concerns in its court filing, claiming the law violates the First Amendment by "conditioning" Utahns' free speech rights on them turning over personal data for age verification.
"The Supreme Court has long held that a state cannot require individuals to provide personal information to access protected speech," the suit states.
It also claims the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and other federal laws.
"NetChoice believes that families equipped with educational resources are capable of determining the best approach to online services and privacy protections for themselves," stated Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center. "We are fighting to ensure that all Utahns embrace digital tools without the forceful clutch of government control."
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told KSL.com in a statement that the "patchwork" of state laws governing app use is "cumbersome for parents."
"There's a better way," the statement said. "Parents should approve their teen's app downloads in one place, and we support federal legislation that requires app stores to get parents' approval whenever their teens under 16 download apps."
The company also pointed to a series of protections it says it already has in place, including setting teen accounts to private automatically and working to limit the types of content minors can see in searches and on trending pages.
Utah's law requires platforms with at least 5 million users to adhere to the new regulations, exempting smaller platforms from the same requirements. The lawsuit notes that X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram would need to comply, while other apps like Bluesky, Gab, and Truth Social would not.
NetChoice argues that these rules make it so that websites with similar social content would be required to follow differing sets of rules based on their number of users.
Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told KSL.com through a spokesperson, "In Utah, we care deeply about our children's and teen's mental health.
"Data shows that social media platforms are aggravating the mental health crisis, especially among young people," he continued. "We in Utah are leading the fight against social media's harmful impacts on the unsupervised industry while providing parents with more resources and tools."
Cox's office declined to comment on the active litigation.
The governor has been a strong critic of social media companies, comparing them to the tobacco companies of old and threatening lawsuits.
"We are literally killing our kids with this stuff," he said in February. "I suspect that 10 years from now, we'll look back on this the way we look back on opioids, the way we look back on tobacco use, and just say, 'What were we doing? I can't believe we did this to our kids.'"
The state has filed suit against some of the largest social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, alleging that the companies have knowingly designed features that are addictive to minors.
Trade groups such as NetChoice have decried the regulations as unlawful before, and lawmakers expected potential legal challenges. Still, many said it was a priority to take steps to protect minors online.
"We have robust alcohol and pornography laws, and drug education programs in schools. Social media needs to be added to this list. We need to treat social media as any other addictive and dangerous product," Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, and one of the architects of the law, told KSL.com. "I have heard from countless parents who said they need resources and tools to protect their kids from the harms of social media. As a lawmaker and parent, I believe Utah's social media policy is helping prevent our kids from falling prey to social media's adverse and sometimes life-threatening effects."
McKell also urged companies to "genuinely work together ... to develop resources that help parents protect their kids instead of only trying to make a profit, no matter the cost."
In its complaint, NetChoice asks the courts to prevent the regulations from going into effect on March 1, 2024, and asks that the state cover attorney fees and litigation costs should the plaintiffs win.
