Judge dismisses claim in Utah social media lawsuit [Video]

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has dismissed a claim in a lawsuit filed over Utah’s new social media laws.

NetChoice, a coalition of tech and social media companies, sued Utah over its laws that crack down on youth access to social media platforms. The laws require age verification, disabling push notifications and features like autoplay and scrolling. NetChoice argues the laws violate First Amendment rights.

But in a new ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby rejected one of NetChoice’s claims surrounding Section 230, a federal law that governs internet publishers.

“The dispositive question is whether the Act’s prohibitions on autoplay, seamless pagination, and notifications treat NetChoice members as the publisher or speaker of the third party content they disseminate. The court concludes they do not,” Judge Shelby wrote. “The Act’s prohibitions focus solely on the conduct of the covered website—the website’s use of certain design features on …