The Utah Social Media Regulation Act or SMRA, a bill passed by the Utah State Legislature, is set to go into effect Oct. 1. The new law aims to control minors’ access and interaction with social media in the state.
The bill requires social media companies verify the age of anyone seeking to maintain or open an account. Users under 18 must get parental consent and must allow parents full access to their child’s account. There will be a default curfew that blocks overnight access to minor accounts from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., which parents can adjust. It also lets parents block minors’ accounts from search results.
Verification of age is proposed to be through government IDs and biometrics like facial recognition, but social media companies cannot collect a minor’s data or target them for advertising or addictive features.
SMRA broadly defines what a social media company is, stating that it “means a person or entity that provides a social media platform that has at least 5,000,000 account holders worldwide.” The act is also vague about the implementation expectations placed on the social media companies but estimates it will roughly cost 30 cents per person for ID verification. The verbiage in the law states that there will be minimal, if any, fiscal impact on the state or Utah residents. If a company is found in violation of these rules, it faces fines of $2,500 per minor found to be harmed.
This bill has drawn controversy from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression or FIRE’s civil rights attorneys. In their lawsuit to halt the bill, they have cited vagueness in its definitions as well as concerns with violations of students’ First Amendment rights.
FIRE’s mission, as stated on their website, is to “defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought—the most essential qualities of liberty.” They accomplish this mission in part through outreach to educational organizations. The lawsuit suggests that minors attending college, such as students in the Southern Utah University Early College Online Program will have access issues and be unfairly disadvantaged.
SMRA also has its supporters, with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaking on the effect that the bill could have outside of Utah, stating, “We have lots of states that are interested and I know we’re all having conversations with other governors, other legislators, and other states. I suspect that you will see lots of bills like these moving forward.”
As for the lawsuit, Cox went on record in a December press conference regarding the matter. “We will vigorously defend these laws, we are prepared for it.”
Update
Gov. Spencer Cox signed in the first bill of the Utah legislative session, which delays the March 1 implantation of SMRA to Oct. 1. This comes after the bill faced legal challenges regarding the its constitutionality.
Author: Aidan Mortensen
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press
Editor: Anna Mower
news@suunews.net
