Judge rejects Snap Inc.s attempt to block Utahs lawsuit against social media companies

On March 24, Judge Jill N. Parris signed a memorandum decision and order denying Snap Inc.s motion to attempt to block Utahs lawsuit against them, meaning that the lawsuit between Utah and Snap Inc., as well as other social media companies such as Meta and TikTok, will remain in court.

Since the Utah Legislature passed the Utah Social Media Regulation Act in 2023, Utah has been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with various social media companies.

Originally, the Utah Social Media Regulation Act, sponsored by Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher, aimed to regulate the use of social media for minors by including regulations such as age verification, parental consent requirements, curfews and restrictions on addictive features such as infinite scrolling.

However, the act was quickly blocked by federal courts issuing an injunction on the basis that the act was a breach of the First Amendment.

Utah then began suing social media companies, including Snap Inc., Meta Platforms and TikTok, claiming the social media apps were designed to be addictive and lacked safeguards for younger users, contributing to harms such as anxiety and depression, compulsive use and exposure to harmful content.

Rebecca Densley, a Ph.D scholar and professor at Brigham Young University who has studied media and family life, said this shift in legal action taken by Utah was unique.

Instead of then making claims about free speech, they just avoided the discussion of speech altogether and talked about platform design, Densley said. It was the intentional engineering behind the products that this case was holding companies accountable for, suggesting that the design choices are what are harming the youth, and not in any connection with regulating speech itself.

Densley further explained the difficulties and dangers of linking social media platform designs to mental well-being.

Its a more nuanced picture than what is often depicted in the news or social media content, Densley said. Its not as simple as this will lead to this, but there is a lot of substantial evidence linking anxiety and depression to social media use. There are other factors that play a role that often get ignored.

Some of these other factors include the age of the adolescent and whether or not they have a history of anxiety or depression.

The use of social media by minors has been of great concern to many. Jacob DeMille, a BYU student and a father of two young children, said he thinks about how he is going to navigate parenting in the current digital age.

My wife and I talk a lot about how we are going to raise them, DeMille said. I think that teaching my kids to be technology literate is very important, and part of that is teaching the dangers of the internet and how to stay safe.

DeMille said he feels the responsibility to teach children how to use technology properly should fall on parents, though resources from the state government level, which can teach parents how to safely navigate social media, could be helpful.

Densley said one of the best ways parents can ensure that their children get the most benefits and avoid most harm from media is parental mediation, discussions between parents and children about the use of media.

Its not just setting rules, its an active discussion. Parents are a part of it, kids are a part of it, Densley said.

In these discussions, Densley explained that parents and children should discuss their perspectives on media, what they have seen on social media and what rules and regulations should be set for consuming media.

When you can have that kind of active collaboration with kids, its all the best benefits, Densley said.

With Judge Parris's decision and order, it is expected that Utah's lawsuits against Meta, TikTok and Snap Inc. will remain in continuation.