Groups' Briefs Support Blocking Utah's Social Media Age-Verification Requirement
A pair of amicus briefs were filed Tuesday at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to side with a district court’s previous ruling that blocked the Utah attorney general from enforcing an age-verification law regulating social media and minors. The briefs argue against the law on First Amendment and privacy grounds.
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The first brief's filers included a coalition of Utah citizens and the youth-led organization Utah Youth Environmental Solutions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), other advocacy groups and think tanks, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and LGBT Technology Institute, filed the second brief.
“Under this law, amici would be unable to express themselves in indisputably beneficial ways, such as to reach at-risk youth, advocate for political causes, and educate themselves; and those who are parents would be unable to make decisions suited to their own sensibilities about their children,” said the first brief. “The State downplays these concrete adverse effects of barring teens from sharing this information while exaggerating the imagined harms social media might potentially inflict on others.”
The second brief's message was similar. The law "burdens minors' use of social media services—an essential expressive medium that enables users to create art, connect with loved ones, form political opinions, find community, and much more,” it said. “Social media is a locus of expression for everyone precisely because it allows users to speak to others, friends and strangers alike.”
The law's age-verification requirement “will block some adults and minors from accessing lawful speech in the first place, remove the possibility of speaking anonymously on these services, and increase users’ risk of privacy invasions and data breaches,” the second brief added.
Case 24-4100 is an appeal by AG Derek Brown (R) of case 23-00911 in the U.S. District Court for Utah, which ruled that SB-194, or The Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act, violates the First Amendment (see 2409110025).
NetChoice has also filed a brief to the 10th Circuit asking it to side with the district court’s previous ruling (see 2505270050).
NetChoice filed its original complaint alleging the act’s age-verification requirements are a breach of people’s privacy and personal information, and that it impedes minors’ ability to engage in constitutionally protected speech (see 2312180054). The district court’s Magistrate Judge Cecilia Romero stayed NetChoice’s challenge of the act at the U.S. District Court for Utah while the 10th Circuit considers an appeal (see 2410210010).