On March 13, 2024, House Bill 464 for Social Media Amendments was signed by the Governor of Utah. This follows the bill's introduction to the Utah House of Representatives on February 5, 2024.

Cause of action

In particular, the bill provides that a Utah minor account holder's parent may bring a cause of action against a social media company for an adverse mental health outcome arising, in whole or in part, from the minor's excessive use of the social media company's algorithmically curated social media service. To recover damages in the cause of action, the person must demonstrate:

• the Utah minor account holder has been diagnosed by a licensed mental health care provider with an adverse mental health outcome; and
• the adverse mental health outcome was caused by the excessive use of an algorithmically curated social media service.

Notably, the bill clarifies that a social media company may not be held liable:

• based on the content of material posted by users of the algorithmically curated social media service; or
• for declining to restrict access to or modify user posts based solely on the content of those posts.

In addition, persons are not entitled to the rebuttable presumption provided under the bill, and a social media company is entitled to the rebuttable presumption provided under the bill, if the social media company demonstrates to the court that the social media company:

• limits a Utah minor account holder's use of the algorithmically curated social media service to no more than three hours in a 24 hour period across all devices;
• restricts a Utah minor account holder from accessing the algorithmically curated social media service between the hours of 10:30 pm and 6:30 am;
• requires the parent or legal guardian of the minor to consent to a Utah minor account holder's use of the algorithmically curated social media service; and
• disables engagement-driven design elements for a Utah minor account holder's account.

Social media companies may utilize settings enabled on the device to impose the requirements above.

The bill provides for the entrance into force of the above provisions on October 1, 2024.

You can read the bill here and view its legislative history here.