Earlier this year, the Utah legislature and Governor Spencer Cox took up the important issue of kids online safety. While their effort was well-intentioned, the path they chose violates the constitutional rights of all Utahns, their children and their businesses, compromises their data security and strips away their parental rights.
NetChoice is suing the State of Utah to stop this package from going into effect on March 1, 2024. We have already won successful challenges against California and Arkansas for trying to impose similar restrictions.
It didn’t have to be this way. NetChoice has been repeatedly speaking with Utah lawmakers about these problems since the two laws, SB 152 and HB 311, were introduced in the legislature. Other states, like Florida and Virginia, passed bills in 2023 that embrace a positive approach for digital literacy. Unfortunately, Utah’s government took a path that seizes control of the online experience from parents, disregards the importance of education, sidelines the state’s vibrant creator economy, compromises data security and violates constitutional rights.
Utahns do not have to choose between their constitutional rights, parental rights, cybersecurity, kids’ safety or economic engine.
With NetChoice v. Reyes, we will fight to ensure that Utah’s Invasion of Privacy Acts are halted. NetChoice looks forward to seeing the State in court.
Read NetChoice’s initial complaint, filed on December 18, 2023, here.
Chris Marchese – Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center
Nicole Saad Bembridge – Associate Director of Litigation
Paul Taske – Associate Director of Litigation
Court Filings
NetChoice Complaint, filed December 18, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Utah—Salt Lake Division
NetChoice Request for a Preliminary Injunction, filed December 20, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Utah—Salt Lake Division.