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Senate committee hears bill to bar social‑media accounts for under‑18s through age verification
Summary
House Bill 186 would require major social media platforms to verify users' ages by commercially reasonable methods and block users under 18 from opening accounts; noncompliance could trigger enforcement by the Texas Attorney General.
House Bill 186 would require social media platforms that meet the bill's definition to use a commercially reasonable method relying on public or private transactional data to verify a user's age and prevent any person under 18 from opening an account. The bill would limit use of the verification data to identity confirmation and prohibit sale or other secondary uses of that information; noncompliant platforms could face action by the consumer protection division of the Texas Attorney General's office for deceptive trade practices.
Senator Adam Hinojosa, the Senate sponsor, framed the bill in personal terms and described it as aimed at protecting children from addictive algorithms, harmful trends, cyberbullying and predators. He referenced national data: the CDC lists suicide as the second leading cause of death for ages 10–24, and a 2023 surgeon general report warned about excessive social media use contributing to anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia among youth. Hinojosa said the bill does not target news, sports or entertainment sites that primarily provide curated, non‑user‑generated content and includes an applicability threshold for platforms with substantial U.S. usage.
Senator Paxton and other members asked technical and definitional questions, including how the bill defines "social media platform," the carve‑outs for gaming and preselected content, and how the bill interacts with other recently passed measures such as parental‑consent requirements in app stores. The sponsor said the definition targets sites and apps that allow account creation and user‑generated posts and that the bill's applicability clause would focus on platforms with large user bases. The committee paused to resume invited testimony following the layout; the hearing was recessed to take up invited witnesses after an interim recess of the Senate.
No final vote or amendments were recorded during the session; the bill remains pending in committee and will resume with invited witnesses and further testimony.
