Utah social media law requiring age verification blocked by judge

A federal judge halted a Utah child safety law requiring social platforms to verify the ages of their users. In an order on Tuesday, Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a preliminary injunction in favor of NetChoice, saying the law likely violates the First Amendment.

NetChoice, the technology trade association that includes Meta, Snap, Google, and X, sued the state to block the law in December 2023, alleging it “violates the constitutional rights of all Utahns.” In addition to verifying the ages of users, the law would require social platforms to “enable maximum default privacy settings” on children’s accounts as well as disable features “that lead to excessive use,” such as endless scrolling and push notifications.

Although Utah initially…

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