Will Missouri follow Australia’s example and ban teens from social media? It could, if state lawmakers pass House Bill 1887 with Rep. Don Mayhew’s last minute amendment still on it. To be clear, an Australia-style social media prohibition that kicks Missouri teens off social media platforms, ignores parental rights, could steer the Show-Me State toward a sweeping, government-enforced censorship regime. 

Like many social media bans now circulating in statehouses, HB 1887 is unworkable in its present form, over-broad, and at odds with the free speech principles Missourians value, following a string of similar laws that courts have struck down as quickly as they were enacted. It would block all Missourians under 16 from holding social media accounts – an outright ban that makes no allowance for parental supervision and replaces family judgment with a one-size-fits-all government mandate.

In practice, enforcing this law would require continuous, government-mandated identity checks for all Missourians every time they use a new social media app. Not only is this a steep barrier for adults to access protected speech, but it is also a data privacy disaster waiting to happen. 

There is no better cautionary tale than Discord. 

Shortly after implementing facial age assurance for users in the U.K. and Australia last year, Discord suffered a sweeping data breach that exposed 70,000 users’ identity documents, not to mention their usernames, email addresses, billing information, and IP addresses. HB 1887 would turn any app that falls within the bill’s definition of social media (including Chinese apps) into a digital ID repository, creating ripe targets for cyberattacks. The Discord case also proves that kids, when presented with an age gate, will not go offline, they will simply go around the rules, using masks to deceive facial scanners and virtual private networks (VPNs) to disguise their location. 

Even setting aside privacy risks and enforcement gaps, HB 1887 still would not deliver on its promises. Even if HB 1887, with the Mayhew amendment, succeeds in ousting kids from platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, the bill’s definition of “social media platform” might exclude Roblox, which is currently being sued by a Missouri mother for enabling a predator to groom her teenage son. Also carved out is YouTube, which was just found negligent in a high-profile addiction case that resulted in a $1.8 million judgment and is the most used social media platform by kids (90%+).

Roblox and YouTube are just two of the several dozen apps kids use regularly – just imagine how many AI chatbots, anonymous messaging platforms, and video games most lawmakers have never even heard of will still be accessible to children even if the current HB 1887 were passed. In fact, by blocking the best-known social media platforms, the Mayhew amendment only drives kids to these dark corners of the internet, increasing traffic to shady foreign-owned platforms like Lemon8, Yope, and RedNote. 

Missouri lawmakers are right to want to protect kids online – but we should not follow Australia and Europe down a path that trades freedom for the illusion of safety. Trampling civil liberties and wasting taxpayer dollars on doomed laws bound to wind up in court is the wrong approach. Unlike other countries who have unsuccessfully tried to ban social media for children, Americans have a constitution that protects every Missourian from government overreach and a First Amendment that protects our freedom to access lawfully protected speech. 

Missouri families don’t need government mandates to make decisions about their children’s online activity. Parents today can set boundaries that reflect their own values. What is proper for a 15-year-old using social media to apply for jobs or coordinate school activities may not be right for a younger child. State law should respect those differences rather than telling parents how to raise their children. 

The Missouri Senate has an obvious choice: stand up for free speech, protect personal privacy, and respect the role of families and parental rights – or rubber-stamp a flawed experiment in digital censorship. For the sake of Missouri’s kids, our Constitution, and common sense, the Missouri Senate should overwhelmingly reject HB 1887.