SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) - A key claim in the challenge to a Utah law designed to protect minors on social media has been thrown out.
Federal judge Robert Shelby on July 22 tossed plaintiff NetChoice's argument that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act preempts certain parts of the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act.
Section 230 generally supplies online platforms with freedom for liability for content posted by third parties on it. NetChoice is a trade group whose members include Google, Meta, X and Snap.
Judge Shelby decided the Act does not target third-party materials posted to those companies' platforms, agreeing with the stance of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes' office.
"The Act's prohibitions focus solely on the conduct of the covered website - the website's use of certain design features on minors' accounts - and impose liability irrespective of the content those design features may be used to disseminate," he wrote.
"In other words, the prohibitions do not impose liability on NetChoice members based on their role as a publisher of third-party content because the potential liability has no connection to that content."
The ruling strips NetChoice of one of its arguments but First Amendment concerns remain. The group sued in December over the first version of the Act, which was repealed and replaced with the current Act. It is set to take effect Oct. 1.
NetChoice says the Act restricts both minors' and adults' access to protected expression on social media platforms. It argues that the Act's restrictions infringe upon First Amendment rights, while broad and undefined terms leave websites uncertain about their obligations under the law.
Websites are to implement an age assurance system and limit minors' ability to share content.
Social media companies must also disable three features:
-Autoplay functions that keep content going without user interaction;
-Additional content that keeps loading as long as a user keeps scrolling; and
-Push notifications that prompt repeated user engagement.