(Reuters) - A federal judge has blocked Utah from enforcing a new law aimed at protecting the mental health of young people by requiring social media platforms to verify users' ages and impose restrictions on minors' accounts.

Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction after concluding that tech industry trade group NetChoice was likely to succeed in establishing that the law violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by unduly abridging the social media companies' free speech rights.