Social Media Ban for Teens? TikTok, X, Facebook and Snapchat on the Chopping Block in This State

Imagine waking up to find that all of the teens in your state can’t get into their TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Snapchat. No more posting, scrolling, or messaging. Worse? This is not some digital glitch, it’s the new law. That’s what one US state is about to do. 

A new bill would make it illegal for anyone under 18 to use major social media sites, even if their parents say it’s okay. 

So, where and what exactly happened?

Texas has passed an online child safety bill that requires Apple and Google to verify users’ ages and get parental consent before minors can download apps from the App Store or the Play Store or make in-app purchases. The law takes effect January 1, 2026.

The issue of age verification is central to this conflict. Apple and Google have clashed with app makers like Meta, Snap, and Match Group over who should be responsible for the age verification.

Texas’s social media ban, House Bill 186, passed the House bipartisanly last week and should pass the state Senate.  The bill would ban minors from signing up for accounts on TikTok, X, Facebook, and Snapchat, and age verification would be mandatory by April 2026 for platforms. This would make  Texas the first state to ban under-18s from social media if the bill is signed. 

Mixed reactions to the ban…

Supporters say the bill is needed to fight the rising mental health crisis among teens. They cite data from a CDC report showing that most of the teen deaths aged between 10 to 24 have happened from suicide, with social media playing a key role in this. Supporters are calling social media bad for kids. 

The bill’s supporters say that drastic action is long overdue because rates of depression, anxiety, cyberbullying, and suicide are all rising due to too much time spent on social media. If the law passes, social media companies will have to check the ages of their users and keep kids from using their sites.  

But not everyone agrees…  

People who are against the law say it goes too far. The right to safeguard kids from social media should lie with parents alone and not the government. Privacy advocates call this an invasive age verification measure that risks the personal data of users. 
Parents are divided. Some people are happy about the move, saying it will help stop people from getting addicted to screens and make them feel better mentally. Some people say that instead of the ban, companies could work on better tools to manage their kids’ accounts and keep a check on the kind of content they consume from these social media accounts.