Utah Federal Judge Blocks Law Imposing Restrictions on Minors’ Social Media Accounts

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah federal judge has blocked a state law that would require social media platforms to verify users' ages and impose restrictions on minors' accounts, ruling that tech industry trade group NetChoice LLC was likely to succeed in showing that the law violated the First Amendment.

In a Sept. 10 order, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah ruled that the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act, enacted in March, imposes content-based restrictions on social media companies’ speech and that the Act “does not satisfy strict …