SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has blocked one of Utah’s new laws on youth social media access from going into effect.
In an order issued late Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby agreed with NetChoice, a coalition of tech and social media companies, to halt Senate Bill 194 from being enforced. That law, which required age-verification and put restrictions on targeted advertising and personalized content.
“The court recognizes the State’s earnest desire to protect young people from the novel challenges associated with social media use. But owing to the First Amendment’s paramount place in our democratic system, even well-intentioned legislation that regulates speech based on content must satisfy a tremendously high level of constitutional scrutiny,” Judge Shelby wrote.
NetChoice had sued, citing the First Amendment and arguing that things like age-verification meant that everyone in Utah who used social media would have to upload some kind of IDto prove they were of age. The state has …