Texas lawmakers are preparing to take another look at social media regulations aimed at protecting children when they return to the Capitol in January, including possible limits or bans on features designed to keep users engaged. During a Texas House committee hearing on public health Thursday, l awmakers raised bipartisan concerns about children’s mental health and the amount of time young people spend on social media. Lawmakers said they want to take a second look at features including infinite scroll, personalized algorithms, beauty filters and push notifications. The hearing comes as thousands of pages of internal documents from major technology companies are becoming public through lawsuit discovery and as big tech companies face a landmark trial over their products’ effects on children. “Even their own internal research shows it. They know what is happening on their platforms and how it’s harming children,” child safety advocate Maurine Molak said. Lawmakers and advocates argue that the tactics and tools technology companies use to keep people looking at their phones are becoming better understood, increasing calls for government action. Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, said she believes the issue should be tested in court. “At the end of the day, I would trust 12 average citizens somewhere over Netflix that’s funded by these people that have more money than God. They’re the billionaire class that we all talk about that are basically running this country and like, let’s take it to court,” Jones said. Congress has been unable to reach an agreement on the issue amid intense lobbying, campaign contributions and concerns about federal overreach. Texas lawmakers also failed to reach a consensus last year. The Texas House passed a social media ban for children, while Gov. Greg Abbott and the Senate, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, pushed instead for age verification in app stores. Social media companies, including Instagram parent Meta, TikTok parent ByteDance, YouTube parent Alphabet and Elon Musk’s X, argue that parents should trust the platforms’ internal safety measures rather than government regulation. The companies say they have spent significant time and resources working to make their products safe for children. The companies also argue that state restrictions on what children can see and post online would raise First Amendment concerns. Child safety advocates, however, say the design of social media platforms themselves is contributing to the problem. “What I see in my clinic is not a failure of Texas parenting. It’s the predictable result of exposing developing brains to an unregulated digital environment designed to elicit views, clicks, likes and shareholder value,” Dr. Daniel Flint of Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine said. Texas lawmakers return to the Capitol in January. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication. ...read more read less