2023 Utah Code › Title 13 - Commerce and Trade › Chapter 63 - Utah Social Media Regulation Act › Part 4 - Social Media Design Regulations › Section 401 - Social media platform design regulations -- Enforcement and auditing authority -- Penalties.

Effective 5/3/2023
13-63-401.
Social media platform design regulations -- Enforcement and auditing authority -- Penalties.
(1) Beginning March 1, 2024:
(a) the division shall administer and enforce the provisions of this section; and
(b) the division may audit the records of a social media company in order to determine compliance with the requirements of this section or to investigate a complaint, including a random sample of a social media company's records and other audit methods.
(2) Beginning March 1, 2024, a social media company shall not use a practice, design, or feature on the company's social media platform that the social media company knows, or which by the exercise of reasonable care should know, causes a Utah minor account holder to have an addiction to the social media platform.
(3) Beginning March 1, 2024:
(a) Subject to Subsection (3)(b), a social media company is subject to:
(i) a civil penalty of $250,000 for each practice, design, or feature shown to have caused addiction; and
(ii) a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for each Utah minor account holder who is shown to have been exposed to the practice, design, or feature found to have caused addiction under Subsection (3)(a)(i).
(b) A social media company shall not be subject to a civil penalty for violating this section if the social media company, as an affirmative defense, demonstrates that the social media company:
(i) instituted and maintained a program of at least quarterly audits of the social media company's practices, designs, and features to detect practices, designs, or features that have the potential to cause or contribute to the addiction of a minor user; and
(ii) corrected, within 30 days of the completion of an audit described in Subsection (3)(b)(i), any practice, design, or feature discovered by the audit to present more than a de minimus risk of violating this section.
(c) In a court action by the division to enforce this section, the court may, in addition to a civil penalty:
(i) declare that the act or practice violates a provision of this section;
(ii) issue an injunction for a violation of this section;
(iii) award actual damages to an injured purchaser or consumer; and
(iv) award any other relief that the court deems reasonable and necessary.
(4) Nothing in this section may be construed to impose liability for a social media company for any of the following:
(a) content that is generated by an account holder, or uploaded to or shared on the platform by an account holder, that may be encountered by another account holder;
(b) passively displaying content that is created entirely by a third party;
(c) information or content for which the social media company was not, in whole or in part, responsible for creating or developing; or
(d) any conduct by a social media company involving a Utah minor account holder who would otherwise be protected by federal or Utah law.
(5) If a court of competent jurisdiction grants judgment or injunctive relief to the division, the court shall award the division:
(a) reasonable attorney fees;
(b) court costs; and
(c) investigative fees.
(6) Nothing in this section may be construed to negate or limit a cause of action that may have existed or exists against a social media company under the law as it existed before the effective date of this section.
(7) All money received for the payment of a fine or civil penalty imposed under this section shall be deposited into the Consumer Protection Education and Training Fund established in Section 13-2-8.
Enacted by Chapter 477, 2023 General Session
Technically renumbered to avoid duplication of newly enacted Chapter also in HB 449, Chapter 298, SB 152, Chapter 498, SB 216, Chapter 509, SB 225, Chapter 377, SB 274, Chapter 536.