A radical step is being taken in the US state of Texas regarding social media use. The new bill foresees completely banning individuals under the age of 18 from accessing social media platforms. The bill has passed the relevant committee in the state Senate and will be submitted to the Governor’s Office for approval by a general assembly vote.

USA restricts social media for those under the age of 18

If the bill becomes law, social media companies will have to verify the age of all their users. Texas, which previously enacted a similar verification system for sites containing pornographic content, is directly targeting social media platforms with this regulation.

Within the scope of the bill, parents will also have the right to request that their children’s social media accounts be deleted. If the platforms do not respond to this request within 10 days, the Texas Attorney General’s Office will step in and impose a fine.

With this move, Texas will implement the most comprehensive and strict restriction on social media use in the United States. Last year, the state of Florida completely banned social media for individuals under the age of 14 and required parental consent for those aged 14-15.

However, the bill presented by Texas goes beyond previous regulations by raising the age limit to 18. Work is ongoing on a similar bill at the federal level. The US Senate is preparing a regulation that would ban social media use by children under the age of 13.

Legal pressures on social media are not limited to the US. Similar steps have been taken in Turkey in recent years. The Social Media Law, which went into effect in 2020, required platforms to open representative offices in Turkey, and increased obligations regarding the protection of children’s personal data.

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