Texas may soon pass into law one of the most restrictive set of social media rules for minors, including making it illegal for those under 18 to be on social media.
House Bill 186 would not only prohibit minors from creating new social media accounts on services such as TikTok, Instagram and X, but it would require age verification for everyone else creating a new account. Under the law, parents could request a minorβs social media account be deleted and the platform would be required to remove it within 10 days or face fines and lawsuits. Lawmakers who support the bill say it will counter the mental health harm that social media poses to teens.
The bill has passed the Texas House of Representatives and still needs to pass the state senate and get a signature from governor Greg Abbott. A similar law passed in Utah last year butΒ was blocked months later by a federal judge. A legal battle over social media restrictions in Florida is also ongoing.Β
Effects if the bill passes
If passed, the bill would go into effect on Sept. 1 and be enforced with penalties on Jan. 1, 2026. The deadline for the legislature to pass the bill is June 2.
A previous law passed in Texas in 2023, the SCOPE Act, aimed to protect kids from social media sites by restricting the type of data they can collect and what kinds of advertising or financial transactions can be shown to minors.Β
That act has been challenged in courts and provisions of it have been blocked by decisions in district courts.
University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus said that the new bill, if passed, could face some of the same legal hurdles as SCOPE has.
βThe US Supreme Court is currently considering the legality of such a law, so that will have serious impact on how Texas can enforce the SCOPE Act,β Rottinghaus says, βThe High Court has ruled that websites cannot be compelled to verify the age of their users, but in a political environment that emphasizes a return to parental rights, we might see the politics of this change the Courtβs mind.β
Rottinghaus believes social companies will fight hard against the new rules, βbut they ultimately may have no choice.β
In addition to efforts to restrict social media by state, thereβs been movement towards passing an age restriction law at the national level.Β
βIt would take a pretty heavy lift for this to become a federal law, but the political conversation about it is certainly peaking,β Rottinghaus says.
The Texas state legislature also may pass into law HB 499, which would require social-media platforms to display a warning label about mental-health risks the services pose to minors. That bill has also passed in the Texas House.
