Utah became the first state Thursday to sign a law trying to limit teenagers’ access to social media sites.
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a pair of measures aimed at limiting when and where children can use social media and preventing companies from attracting children to the sites.
Other states, such as Arkansas, Texas, Ohio and Louisiana have similar bills.
The law requires companies to give parents access to their children’s accounts, places a curfew on social media use from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. as well as age verification for all Utah residents who want to use social media.
In addition to the provision of parental consent, social media companies must design new features to comply with part of the law to prohibit the promotion of advertising to minors and showing it in search results. Search and targeted advertising are the two main revenue generating mechanisms for many social media companies.
Cox cited more studies around the world “showing that there is a causal relationship between these poor outcomes, poor mental health outcomes, and time spent on social media and these apps.
“We remain very optimistic that we will be able to pass not only here in the state of Utah but across the country the law that significantly changes the relationship of our children with this very destructive social media app,” he said.
The move comes as parents and lawmakers are increasingly concerned about children and teenagers’ use of social media and how platforms like TikTok, Instagram and others are affecting young people’s mental health.
The Utah law was signed on the same day TikTok’s CEO testified before Congress about, among other things, TikTok’s effects on teen mental health.
The law will take effect in March 2024 and Cox previously said he expected social media companies to challenge it in court.
Tech industry lobbyists quickly dismissed the move as unconstitutional.
“Utah will require online services to collect sensitive information about teenagers and their families, not just to verify age, but to verify parental relationships, such as government-issued IDs and birth certificates, putting personal data at risk of being breached,” said Nicole Saad. Bembridge, associate director at NetChoice, a technology lobby group. “This law also violates Utah’s First Amendment right to share and access speech online — an effort the Supreme Court rejected in 1997.”