Texas is whining up to become the next U.S. state to stop children under 18 from using social media. The bill that would bring the law to existence in the state just moved pass the Senate committee and is waiting for a vote in front of the Texas State Senate.
The bill will wait for approximately one week before approval. This is because it must be passed by the state Senate and signed by the governor before the legislative session concludes on June 2. Meanwhile, earlier this year, the bill passed the House committee phase and subsequently received approval from the state’s House of Representatives.
If all the efforts to bring the bill into law is successful, it would enforce all social media platforms and apps to verify user's age before account is setup. This will work exactly how porn websites are forced to imposed age verification system to their platforms.
In addition to the bill that imposes age limits during registration, the bill also proposes that parents must delete their children's social media accounts. The bill also proposes that social media platforms are given 10 days to adhere to this request or face legal battle from the state's attorney general.
Texas is not the first state that's proposing a bill to ban social media from the reach of children. Several states have also shown interest in regulating social media usage for kids in the U.S. In 2024, Florida implemented a law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, that prohibits children under 14 from accessing social media platforms and mandates parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to create or use accounts.
When I compared the Texas's move to ban children under 18 from using social media to Florida’s regulations, the proposed bill in Texas takes a more stringent approach to restricting social media access in the sense that it features broader scope, stricter age limits, and more comprehensive enforcement mechanisms.
On a national level, efforts to curb social media use among young people have also gained traction. In April 2024, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to prohibit anyone under 13 from using social media platforms. Although it stalled during the committee phase, recent statements from Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggest a renewed push to advance the legislation in the near future.
