Utah Passes Historic Kids Social Media Law

June 10, 2023

By Deanna D.

Edited by Mariann F.

In late March 2023, the state of Utah passed two historic pieces of legislation. H.B. 311 and S.B.152 both of which will introduce significant restrictions on the use of social media by minors. It is the first of its kind in the United States and requires social media companies to obtain parental consent prior to minors using their services. The laws seek to ensure social media companies permit parents to access posts and messages from their child’s account. Additionally, social media companies are required to verify the age of any Utah resident who makes a social media profile. To prevent children from being influenced by commercial messages, Utah’s ‘minors’ accounts’ will be ad free and must not turn up in search results. These companies cannot collect information on minors, target kids, make content suggestions or use addictive technologies in social media apps used by minors. Social media companies are also required to impose a curfew from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m locking out minors from their accounts. According to NBC News, four states ie Ohio, Minnesota, Connecticut and Arkansas, are watching Utah carefully and considering the introduction of similar laws.

If a social media company violates the law, it can face civil penalties starting at $2,500. This penalty, though sounding like a rounding error to a billion dollar social media company, it can multiply quickly. If it is found by a court that a Utah minor has been harmed as a consequence of using or having an account on the social media company’s social media platform, the minor is entitled to $2,500 per incident of harm.  There is a fine of $2,500 which is applied to each of Utah’s ‘minors account’ holder who is found to have been exposed to the practice, design, or feature found to have caused an addiction. This is in addition to a penalty of $250,000 for simply using each practice, feature or design shown to cause an addiction (Utah, 2023a and b)

Opponents to the law say it demonstrates government overreach whilst others say it is protecting the mental health of kids. The goals and objectives of the laws are to protect children from the potential negative effects of social media use, such as cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, harmful interactions, and addiction (Kohli, 2023). The laws aim to provide parents with greater control over their children’s social media use. Concerns have however been raised  about the potential infringement of children’s privacy rights and freedom of expression (Kohli, 2023). 

In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said to NBC news: “We want teens to be safe online. We’ve developed more than 30 tools to support teens and families, including tools that let parents and teens work together to limit the amount of time teens spend on Instagram, and age verification technology that helps teens have age-appropriate experiences. We automatically set teens’ accounts to private when they join Instagram, and we send notifications encouraging them to take regular breaks.” The spokesperson added, “We’ll continue to work closely with experts, policymakers and parents on these important issues.”

Some communication experts speculate that social media companies may shut out users from Utah. The state has a population of 3.4 million people as per statistics from the University of Utah’s State and County Population Estimates Department. According to investing.com, 77 per cent of internet users or 3.59 billion users, are on one of Meta’s platforms (Shvartsman, 2023). The social media companies have until March 1, 2024 to comply. 

References

H.B. 311, 2023 Gen. Sess. Social media usage amendments. (Utah, 2023a). https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0311.html.

Kohli, A. (25 March 2023). Utah’s passes laws restricting social media use for minors. Time.com. https://time.com/6266100/utah_teens_social_media_laws/

S.B. 152, 2023 Gen. Sess. Social media regulations amendments. (Utah, 2023b).  https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/SB0152.html.

Shvartsmna, D. (28 April 2023). Facebook: The leading platform of our time. investing.com  https://www.investing.com/academy/statistics/facebook-meta-facts/#:~:text=More%20than%2077%25%20of%20Internet,at%20least%20one%20Meta%20platform