There is no Texas social media ban. The state has not prohibited social media, and no Texas law stops you or your child from using Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok, or any other platform. What Texas has done is pass two laws that regulate how the largest platforms moderate content and how any covered platform handles users under 18. Both laws are on the books. Neither is fully enforceable as of early 2026, because federal courts have blocked most of what they do.
The two laws are House Bill 20, signed in 2021, and the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act (the SCOPE Act), signed in 2023.
What HB 20 Was Meant to Do
HB 20 targets the biggest platforms. It applies only to social media services with more than 50 million monthly active users in the United States in a given calendar month.1Texas Legislature Online. HB 20 – Enrolled Version That effectively means Facebook, YouTube, X, Instagram, and a handful of similar services. Smaller platforms, niche forums, and news sites where the comment section is secondary to the publisher’s own content are not covered.2State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code 120.001 – Definitions
The core rule bars covered platforms from censoring you or your posts based on your viewpoint or your location in Texas. Under Chapter 143A of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, “censoring” covers a broad set of actions: blocking your account, banning you, removing posts, demonetizing content, reducing visibility, or otherwise restricting access in a discriminatory way.3State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 143A – Discourse on Social Media Platforms Platforms can still remove content that incites criminal activity or involves unlawful material like the sexual exploitation of minors. What they cannot do, under the statute, is suppress lawful speech because they disagree with it.
The law also gives users a way to sue. If a covered platform censors you in violation of the statute, you can bring a lawsuit and recover attorney fees and court costs if you prevail. The Texas Attorney General can separately seek a court injunction ordering a platform to stop violating the law.3State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 143A – Discourse on Social Media Platforms
What the SCOPE Act Was Meant to Do
The SCOPE Act, passed as House Bill 18, took effect on September 1, 2024. It regulates how digital services deal with users under 18.4Texas Legislature Online. Texas HB 18 – Enrolled Version
The central requirement is verified parental consent. A digital service provider cannot enter into an agreement, including creating an account, with a “known minor” unless a parent or guardian gives verified consent. A known minor is someone under 18 whose age the platform actually knows or willfully disregards.4Texas Legislature Online. Texas HB 18 – Enrolled Version
Before consent is captured, the platform is supposed to offer parents the option of permanently enabling protective settings for the minor’s account: the highest available privacy setting, limits on data collection, no targeted advertising, no in-app purchases, and no geolocation tracking.4Texas Legislature Online. Texas HB 18 – Enrolled Version
The SCOPE Act reaches further than HB 20. Rather than a 50-million-user threshold, it applies to any digital service that connects users socially, lets them create a public or semi-public profile, and lets them post content other users can see. Message boards, chat rooms, and video channels are covered. Small businesses as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration are exempt, and so are email-only or direct-messaging services and sites where content is primarily generated by the provider.4Texas Legislature Online. Texas HB 18 – Enrolled Version
Enforcement runs through the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. A violation is treated as a deceptive trade practice, and the AG can pursue injunctive relief plus civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, along with attorney fees. Parents can seek a declaratory judgment against a noncompliant platform, but the law does not let them sue for money damages, and courts cannot certify class actions under the statute.5Office of the Texas Attorney General. Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment
Why Neither Law Is Being Enforced
Both laws are tied up in federal court, and the practical result is that neither is currently doing much of what its authors intended.
In July 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, a unanimous ruling that consolidated challenges to the Texas and Florida social media laws. The Court held that when platforms choose what content to display, how to organize it, and what to prioritize, they exercise editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment.6Supreme Court of the United States. Moody v. NetChoice, LLC – Opinion The majority said a state cannot interfere with private speakers to advance its own vision of ideological balance, even in service of broader public discourse.
The Court vacated the Fifth Circuit’s earlier decision upholding HB 20 and sent the case back for a proper analysis of whether the law is unconstitutional across the full range of situations it would touch.6Supreme Court of the United States. Moody v. NetChoice, LLC – Opinion The Fifth Circuit remanded the matter to the federal district court in November 2024 for that detailed review.7Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton – Opinion While that process runs, HB 20’s anti-censorship rules are not being enforced against platforms.
The SCOPE Act was blocked on a similar timeline. A federal judge in the Western District of Texas enjoined the law’s monitoring and filtering requirements shortly before its September 2024 effective date, finding those provisions vague and overly broad. In February 2025, the same judge expanded the injunction to cover the law’s targeted advertising restrictions, content monitoring rules, and age verification provisions, applying strict scrutiny because the statute burdens free speech. That ruling is preliminary, so the state could still win at trial, but the breadth of the injunction leaves very little of the SCOPE Act currently enforceable.
What This Means for You Right Now
If you are a Texas resident wondering whether social media is banned or restricted for you: it is not. You can create accounts, post, and use the same platforms as anyone else in the country.
If you are a parent of a minor: the SCOPE Act’s parental consent requirement is not currently being enforced against platforms. Some services have already built consent flows for Texas users, but the legal obligation to demand verified parental consent before a teenager creates an account is on hold. Any protective settings a platform offers for teen accounts today are the platform’s own choices, not compliance with an active Texas mandate.
If you believe a large platform removed your content or account for political reasons: HB 20 gives you a private right of action in theory, but the law’s enforceability is unresolved while the constitutional challenge continues on remand. A lawyer can tell you whether a claim under Chapter 143A is currently viable given the state of the litigation.
Both statutes remain on the books. If either survives judicial review, enforcement could resume quickly, because the penalty structures and procedures are already written into Texas law. Until courts finish their work, the Texas approach to social media exists more as declared policy than as active regulation.