Index
Consumer ProtectionTexas, USA

Texas Social Media Law (HB 20)

Summary

Texas HB 20 makes it illegal for large social media platforms (like Facebook and X) to ban users or remove posts based on the user's political viewpoint. *Note: The US Supreme Court largely blocked this law from taking effect in 2024.*

Rights & Rules

  • 01.
    The law attempted to declare social media platforms with over 50 million users as 'common carriers' (like a phone company), meaning they must serve everyone equally.
  • 02.
    Platforms were forbidden from 'censoring' a user, a user's expression, or a user's ability to receive the expression of another person based on their viewpoint.
  • 03.
    The law required platforms to provide detailed transparency reports on their content moderation algorithms.
  • 04.
    The US Supreme Court ruled that the core anti-censorship provisions likely violate the First Amendment, affirming that private tech companies have the right to decide what speech they allow on their own platforms.

Penalties

  • 01.
    If the law had been fully upheld, users and the Texas Attorney General could have sued the platforms to force them to restore banned accounts.

Verified Citations

Texas House Bill 20 (2021) / Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Chapter 120

Source
"A social media platform may not censor a user, a user's expression, or a user's ability to receive the expression of another person based on: (1) the viewpoint of the user or another person; (2) the viewpoint represented in the user's expression..."