NetChoice v. Reyes
| NetChoice v. Reyes et al | |
|---|---|
| Court | U.S District Court for the District of Utah |
| Full case name | NETCHOICE, LLC,
v. SEAN D. REYES, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Utah, KATHERINE HASS, in her official capacity as Director of the Division of Consumer Protection of the Utah Department of Commerce, |
| Argued | August 14, 2024 |
| Decided | September 10, 2024 |
| Holding | |
| The Utah Social Media Regulation Act violates the First Amendment rights of Adults and Minors in all applications | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief judge | Robert J Shelby |
On December 18, 2023, The Trade Association NetChoice sued Utah over its law the Utah Social Media Regulation Act in the U.S District Court for the District of Utah and the Judge assigned to the case is Chief Judge Robert Shelby which who would block the law on September 10, 2024.[1][2]
Background
On March 23, 2023, Governor Spencer Cox signed SB 152 and HB 311 collective known as the Utah Social Media Regulation Act.[3][4][5]
SB 152 requires social media platforms with 5 million users worldwide to conduct age verification on their users and if that user is under 18 years of age, they must have parental consent and cannot message anyone they haven't friended yet, have their account show up in search results, have any advertising to a minors account and cannot promote or suggest any other account, post, services, groups or products. Minors also cannot access the social media platform between 10:30 pm - 6:30 am MST and violating SB 152 will result in a fine that is up to 2,500 dollars per violation.[4]
HB 311 allows parents of children harmed by social media platforms to sue for up to 2,500 dollars per incident of harm that acquired to the child and have a rebuttal if the child is under 16 years old.[5]
Lawsuit
On December 18, 2023, NetChoice a Trade Association that has social media platforms such as X (formally Twitter), Reddit, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram as its members sued Former Attorney General of Utah Sean Reyes and Katherine Hass who is the Director for the Consumer Protection Division for the Utah Department claiming that the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment and First Amendment of the United States Constitution and was preempted by Section 230.[1] [6]
Two days later NetChoice would file a motion for a Preliminary Injunction asking the Court to enjoin the law before its March 1, 2024, effective date.[7] In response to this Utah would first pass SB 89, which would delay the effective date of the Utah Social Media Regulation Acts from March 1, 2024, to October 1, 2024, and would ask the Court to delay its Preliminary Injunction hearing because the act was going to be repealed and replaced, Utah already had plans to amend the laws before the lawsuit was filed. The bills to amend the Utah Social Media Regulation Act were SB 194 and HB 464 and were both passed.[8][9][10][11][12]
References
- ^ a b NetChoice LLC v. Reyes, 2:23-cv-00911 – CourtListener.com
- ^ NetChoice sues Utah over new social media laws passed by the Legislature
- ^ Utah social media law means kids need approval from parents | AP News
- ^ a b SB0152
- ^ a b HB0311
- ^ Complaint NetChoice v. Reyes et al
- ^ NetChoice v. Reyes PI Motion
- ^ SB0089 Utah
- ^ Attorneys' Planning Meeting Report
- ^ Legislature may tweak Utah's social media law, but Cox happy with age verification | KSL.com
- ^ SB 194
- ^ HB0464