States push ahead with social media laws amid legal challenges

The Utah State Capitol. Lawmakers in the state are delaying the implementation of its social media rules in the face of pending litigation.

The Utah State Capitol. Lawmakers in the state are delaying the implementation of its social media rules in the face of pending litigation. fotoVoyager/Getty Images

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Utah delayed its efforts for litigation purposes, while a judge blocked an Ohio law. But that hasn’t stopped other states, most recently Idaho and New York, from introducing their own restrictions to protect minors.

Despite a string of lawsuits challenging several states’ social media restrictions for minors, many others are trudging ahead, seemingly undeterred, with their own legislation.

Even Utah, which faces several lawsuits that argue the state’s social media law is unconstitutional, appears defiant. While Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill last week that will push back implementation of the state’s Social Media Regulation Act from March 1 to Oct. 1, he was careful to stress that Utah was “as committed as ever to protecting our children from the harms of social media.”

State Sen. Kirk Cullimore, who sponsored the original law, told the Utah News Dispatch that the law Cox signed was merely for litigation purposes. Just a week before it passed in the legislature, Republicans had vowed to prioritize revisions to ensure its social media laws held up in court.

In his speech to mark the start of the new legislative session, Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams said lawsuits would not halt their mission.

“We will continue leading the nation in protecting kids against social media,” Adams said. “We will hold social media companies accountable for the harm they are inflicting upon our youth. And we will stand for our children and proudly fight the litigation.”

Utah’s restrictions require social media platforms to verify users’ ages, get parental permission before minors’ use their apps and provide a way for parents to control the content their child views, among other rules. Critics have previously questioned the effectiveness of such legislation, and whether privacy protections would be undercut by them.

The lawsuits challenging Utah’s restrictions argue that the Social Media Regulation Act violates residents’ First Amendment rights to share and receive information online, and also violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause as it conflicts with federal law.

In the lawsuit filed by NetChoice, the open internet advocacy group said the action was necessary to protect residents’ constitutional protections online, protect the privacy of their data and “keep parents in charge of their families—not big government.”

Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement the lawsuit is a way of “fighting to ensure that all Utahns can embrace digital tools without the forceful clutch of government control.”

A separate lawsuit by a current Utah high school student and three adults, represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, makes similar arguments. That suit accuses Utah legislators of choosing to “default to censorship,” rather than explore social media’s effects on young people. 

Similar legislation in Ohio has run into legal issues too. The state’s Social Media Operators Act passed the general assembly last July and was due to take effect on Jan. 15. The legislation requires social media platforms to get parental consent before accounts can be created for children under 16, and must offer parents tools to censor or moderate inappropriate content.

Upon consent, platforms must then send written confirmation of a child’s account to their parent or guardian. Where notification is not provided by the companies or if a parent or guardian wants to terminate their child’s access, the company has 30 days to close the account. If they do not comply, parents or guardians could file a complaint with the Ohio attorney general.

However, a U.S. District Court granted a NetChoice request to temporarily block the law from going into effect while a larger lawsuit the group brought against it is heard. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement he was “disappointed” about the temporary injunction and will continue to push for its implementation as “parents should have a role in their children’s social media use.”

The legal jeopardy of the Utah and Ohio laws, as well as the temporary blocking of Arkansas’ social media regulations, has not stopped others from copycat rules amid what looks to be a crucial year for such restrictions.

During his State of the State address earlier this month, Idaho Gov. Brad Little urged legislators to pass “meaningful reforms” in this legislative session “to better protect our children from the harms of social media.” Little echoed the findings of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who last year blamed social media for its impact on youth mental health.

“Social media is addicting,” Little said in his speech. “It creates a forum for cyberbullying. It replaces quality time with kids’ friends and loved ones, and it makes them compare themselves to impossible, artificial standards for looks and lifestyles.”

New York is also considering bills to regulate children’s social media use, which were first announced last year. Both the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act and the New York Child Data Privacy and Protection Act are currently in committee.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.