NetChoice Says Mississippi Ruling Supports Blocking Similar Utah Age-Verification Law
NetChoice asked a federal court on Monday to consider blocking a Utah age-verification law due to its similarity to a Mississippi age-verification law that was preliminarily enjoined.
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In a letter to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, NetChoice argued that the ruling in Mississippi's NetChoice v. Fitch is relevant in a suit about the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act, for two reasons.
"First, Fitch held that the Mississippi law’s central coverage definition is content-based, because it 'treats or classifies digital service providers differently based upon the nature of the material they disseminate,'" much like Utah's SB-194, the letter said.
Additionally, Fitch found "there was no evidence that 'the alternative suggested by NetChoice, the private tools currently available for parents to monitor their children online, would be insufficient to secure the State’s objective of protecting children.' Here too, the record reflects that private, parental tools are plentiful."
In the Utah case (24-4100), NetChoice asked the circuit court to side with a district court’s previous ruling (see 2409110025) and block the state's attorney general from enforcing SB-194 due to First Amendment and privacy concerns (see 2505270050). However, the district court’s Magistrate Judge Cecilia Romero stayed NetChoice’s challenge of the law at the U.S. District Court for Utah while the 10th Circuit considers an appeal (see 2410210010).
NetChoice has also cited the enjoinment of a similar Florida measure as a reason to block SB-194 in Utah (see 2506200022).
The Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act requires that social media companies determine whether Utah-based account users are minors.