“We understand that there are definitely going to be enforcement issues anytime you wade into this type of an industry. It’s going to be tough. We don’t expect that we’re going to be able to prevent every, you know, every young person from getting around this,” Cox said.

“Kids are really smart. That’s one of the problems,” he told host Chuck Todd.

Though he is urging Congress to enact similar federal-level laws, states must lead when it comes to social media regulation, Cox said, predicting that other states will follow Utah’s example, despite potential legal pushback from social media companies.

“I expect other states to follow, as you mentioned, and then that helps Congress kind of coalesce and come to an agreement on how we prevent these terrible harms from happening,” Cox said. And though Utah expects legal challenges, “we feel confident that we’re going to prevail,” Cox said.