Texas bill would bar users under 18 from social platforms and mandate age verification

Texas House Bill 186 has cleared the state House with bipartisan support. It is advancing through the Senate, positioning Texas to adopt the strictest social-media age limits in the United States. The measure would bar anyone younger than 18 from creating an account on platforms that let users post or curate content—including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter), Snapchat, and Facebook—and would force companies to put age-verification systems in place by April 2026.

If HB 186 becomes law, parents could order a platform to delete their child’s existing account and expect compliance within ten days. The bill also demands conspicuous health warnings about the mental health risks associated with heavy social-media use. A companion proposal, Senate Bill 2420, would add age checks and parental consent before minors can download or make in-app purchases, while House Bill 499 would make risk warnings mandatory.

Supporters frame the legislation as a public-health necessity. Co-sponsor Senator Adam Hinojosa argued that platforms “cannot have our children,” pointing to research that links excessive social-media exposure to anxiety, bullying, and suicidal ideation among teens. Studies cited in committee hearings show that 95 percent of U.S. adolescents aged 13–17 use social media, with more than a third reporting near-constant engagement.

Opposition has come from teenagers, civil liberties groups, and industry associations. Seventeen-year-old content creators and student-athletes told senators the bill would undercut college recruiting and budding careers built on online visibility. The Computer and Communications Industry Association warned that HB 186 conflicts with contract law, chills minors’ First Amendment rights, and creates unresolved privacy risks because the bill is silent on how platforms must handle the identification data they collect.

Texas is not alone in targeting youth access, but its proposal goes further than any state rule that is now in force. Florida bars accounts only for children under 14, and ten other states have narrower measures focused on parental controls or time limits. Internationally, Australia set its under 16 ban in 2024. Every prior attempt to impose sweeping limits in Texas has ended up in federal court; should HB 186 reach Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, as expected, another legal test appears inevitable.