Texas House passes bill banning teens from using social media

The Texas House passed a bill Thursday that would prohibit teens from using social media.

House Bill 186 would require a strict age verification process to ensure account holders are 18 years of age or older. The bill passed the Texas House on a 125-20 vote, the Austin-American Statesman reports. The proposal now goes to the state Senate.

“I firmly believe that social media is the most harmful product that our kids have legal access to in Texas,” said bill author Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, according to a report by Austin NBC affiliate KXAN.

Without providing documenting evidence, Patterson also suggested that social media use is linked to a laundry list of alarming trends involving young people, from porn to anorexia. 

“ER visits are up, anorexia amongst girls are up, pornography addiction and aggression amongst boys up,” said Patterson ahead of the vote, KXAN reports. “It is our kids killing themselves at a clip that we’ve never seen before in the history of the state of Texas, and it’s all correlated back to this rapid rise in social media use for young people.”

Somewhat ironically, Patterson also weighed in on his social media concerns via a recent tweet.

“Social media is the most dangerous product legally accessible to Texas kids,” he said April 25 on the social media platform X.

In his X bio, Patterson describes himself as a “leading conservative voice in the Texas House.” The lawmaker has also authored bills going after libraries and educators for books that contain “explicit content.” His House Bill 267, introduced this session, threatens librarians with criminal prosecution for distributing such materials.

While right-wing lawmakers like Patterson blame social media access for teen suicides, Texas has ranked as the worst state for mental health two years in a row in a study by Forbes Advisor. It’s poor showing is due to a high rate of uninsured people, a lack of mental healthcare facilities and the expense of seeking treatment.

Indeed, the study found that 75% of Texas youth who struggle with depression don’t receive mental health services, in large part because it’s not affordable.

Critics argue Patterson’s HB 186 could impact the rights of young people, including those who use social media for academic and civic engagement.

“We believe this law is clearly unconstitutional,” attorney Brian Klosterboer with the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said. “HB 186 would ban all social media use by anyone under the age of 18, even if someone’s parent or guardian wants them to be able to use social media. For example, a lot of young people might be in youth groups or clubs or organizations that connect on social media. They might use social media for research, even to access, maybe tweets from government officials or academic researchers. All of that would be banned under this bill.”
The bill would empower the Texas Attorney General’s Office to penalize social media companies for allowing minors on their platforms. However, the legislation doesn’t specify exact penalties. Rather, it points to existing statutes

If the proposal becomes law, parents and guardians would also be able to request the removal of their child’s account and a platform would have 10 days to comply.

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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.