Utah Legislature Passes Two Bills Requiring that Websites Verify Users’ Ages & Obtain Parental Consent to Process Teens’ Data

On March 1, the Utah state legislature advanced two bills that will, starting March 1, 2024, regulate how social media companies interact with users under the age of 18. The two bills were signed into law by Governor Spencer Cox (R-UT) on March 23, 2024. 

SB 152, the Utah Social Media Regulation Act, will:

• Prohibit minors (persons under 18) from holding or opening an account on a social media platform without parental consent. Social media companies must verify the age of an existing or new Utah account holder using a government-issued ID and based on rules promulgated by the Division of Consumer Protection (“Division”).
• Require that parents be given access to the account to view their child’s posts and messages.
• Prohibit certain activities such as allowing direct messaging between the account and any other user that is not linked to the account through friending
• Prohibit the display of advertising, not just targeted advertising, in a Utah minor’s social media account
• Prohibit targeted recommendations
• Restrict a minor’s access to their account from the hours of 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. unless a parent changes or eliminates that restriction.

The bill includes Utah Attorney General enforcement and a private right of action.The definition of covered social media platforms is quite narrow in the final law, with more than two dozen exceptions and carve-outs. Sixteen and 17-year-olds would only be exempt from this new law if they are emancipated or married (also subject, under Utah law, to a parent or guardian’s consent). 

HB 311, Social Media Usage Amendments, will:

• Ban a social media company from using a practice, design, or feature on the company’s social media platform that the social media company knows, or which by the exercise of reasonable care should know, causes a Utah minor account holder to have an addiction to the social media platform. 
• Create a private right of action for a Utah minor account holder for any addiction, financial, physical, or emotional harm suffered as a consequence of using or having an account on the social media company’s social media platform. 
  • If the account holder is under the age of 16, there is a rebuttable presumption that the harm actually occurred and that the harm was caused as a consequence of using or having an account on the social media company’s social media platform.

The advertising industry trade associations submitted a veto request letter for SB 152 to Governor Cox on March 13, 2023, citing constitutional concerns including the bill’s ban on lawful commercial speech.

If enacted, agencies engaged in social media advertising campaigns targeted toward minors nationwide or in Utah should take note of these new requirements. The big tech platforms are likely to develop tools for digital advertisers to address these changes.

During the 2023 state legislative session, we have seen a remarkable expansion of proposed social media regulation and age-appropriate design code legislation. We expect this trend to continue, as children’s privacy continues to a significant point of bipartisan agreement.