Utah governor signs a law requiring parental consent before minors under 18 use social media

Utah became the first state in the United States to enact such regulations when Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed two comprehensive social media regulations into law on Thursday. These regulations mandate that social media businesses obtain parental permission before allowing minors to use their services.

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In addition to various federal bills in Congress, regulations are also discussed in four other states.

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New legislation in Utah, H.B. 311 and S.B. 152 — mandates social media platforms to confirm the age of any Utah residents who create social media profiles. It also requires them to obtain parental permission for any minors. Additionally, they require social media platforms to grant access to parents so they can see conversations and postings from their child's accounts.

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The laws also forbid social media companies from knowingly integrating addictive technologies into social media apps used by minors. This includes displaying ads to minors, displaying accounts associated with minors in search results, gathering data on minors, targeting or recommending content to minors, or collecting information about minors. Also, they set a curfew for kids using social media, preventing them from accessing their accounts after 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. based on a user's device's location, unless changed with a parent's permission.

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Utah's legislation comes in the midst of continuous discussions about the relationship between social media use and young people's mental health. This is a connection that is widely theorized but is still being researched by academics. A crisis in youth mental health has been declared, with young women's mental well-being receiving particular attention.

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The deadline for social media companies to comply with the laws is March 1, 2024, beyond which they risk facing both civil and criminal fines.

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The bill's sponsors told Trade Algo in interviews that they were driven by worries about young people's mental health caused by social media use and that they hoped Congress or other states would take Utah's new regulations as an example.

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Sen. Michael McKell of Utah remarked, "I don't think there has ever been a time in our history where mental health has been more severe. I hope there is a movement across the country."

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McKell says Utah's bills were crafted by a working group during the past year.

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The panel heard testimony from executives and lobbyists from significant social media businesses including Google and TikTok, according to state representative Jordan Teuscher, who co-sponsored one of the Utah legislation.

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"As you might expect, the top Utah lobbyists were almost all engaged by the social media corporations to try to influence the legislation," he said. "They didn't have much luck keeping us from our goals."

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A representative for Meta said in a statement: "We want teenagers to stay secure online. We've created more than 30 tools to aid families and teenagers, such as tools that let parents and teenagers collaborate to limit the amount of time teenagers spend on Instagram and age verification technology that enables teenagers to participate in events that are appropriate for their age." The spokesman continued, "We'll continue to work together with experts, governments, and parents on these critical concerns. When teens join Instagram, we immediately set their profiles to private and provide reminders encouraging them to take regular breaks."

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The laws' critics assert that they are an example of governmental overreach that will have an impact outside the state's boundaries.

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According to Ari Cohn, free speech counsel for the tech policy thinks tank TechFreedom, "There's no way for a platform to identify who is or isn't a full-time Utah resident." According to Cohn, it is implausible to believe that social media companies could distinguish Utah residents from tourists visiting the state or adjacent users using cellphone data networks to access the internet.

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According to him, age verification of all users is the only way the platforms can guarantee complete compliance. “And that's the issue with laws like this at the state level: they essentially regulate internet use for everyone.”

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Age verification poses a significant risk to online discourse and security, Cohn continued.

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"Age verification for everyone means that using social media anonymously is no longer an option," he explained. "Consider all the ways that social media is used to critique powerful individuals, elected politicians, oppressive nations, or what have you, without fear of retaliation."

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Additionally, Cohn pointed out that not every child is raised in a loving environment and that giving parents access to their children's social media history could result in abuse.

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By potentially locking out children whose parents aren't readily available to give consent, the restrictions, according to Cohn, could even lead to equality difficulties.

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Teuscher claimed that the importance of children's mental health did not exceed the other factors.

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Government should intervene when mental health problems increase in a hockey-stick pattern to ask, "Hey, is there something we need to do to preserve the health of our citizens and especially the health of children," he said.

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Utah is the only state to have approved this legislation thus far, and if other states don't follow suit, social media corporations may be able to block users from the state.

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Outside of Utah, four states—Ohio, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Arkansas—are considering legislation that would oblige some teenagers to obtain their parents' permission before using social media.

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Since no centralized agency is currently supplying states with draft wording, each one is proposing slightly different regulations that social media businesses would have to abide by. For instance, a few states would only demand parental approval for minors under the age of 16.

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According to McKell, the potential disparities might even be advantageous.

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He stated, "That'll force Congress to the table."

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Two versions of legislation limiting children's access to social media are now before Congress. If passed into law, they would establish minimum ages for using social media without parental permission.