Utah urges court to reinstate social media law for minors

Quinn Welsch

(CN) — The Utah Attorney General’s Office asked a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals panel to overturn a lower court’s block of a law the state says protects children from social media companies.

A three-judge panel heard arguments from the attorney general’s office and NetChoice, a trade organization that represents various social media companies, on Thursday morning. Much of those arguments focused on whether the state’s law targets the content of free speech.

An attorney representing Utah argued that its Minor Protection in Social Media Act is content-neutral and is meant to protect children from potential harm on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

The state says that the lower court erred when it determined the law was a content-based restrictio