Texas
New Texas law takes effect requiring parental approval for children to create social media accounts
A new law has taken effect in Texas that requires parental approval for a child to create a social media account.
Parts of the SCOPE Act, or House Bill 18, went into effect on Sunday after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation last year.
In a committee hearing last year, Republican state Rep. Shelby Slawson cited threats that unmonitored social media use could pose for children, including cyberbullying and child predators, according to Fox 4.
“A Texas teenager was rescued from a shed in North Carolina where she was being held by a predator who allegedly lured her away by a chat app,” she said.
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A new law has taken effect in Texas that requires parental approval for a child to create a social media account. (Getty Images)
However, the law in its current form would not directly flag those types of contacts, Fox 4 reported.
Last week, a judge blocked provisions that would have required social media companies to filter out harmful content. But the judge allowed the requirement for parental consent for children creating an account and the authority for parents to supervise their child’s online activities.
Some social media companies have argued that there are already protections in place to protect children online.
“While we strongly agree with the underlying intent of the bill, we oppose the bill as filed,” Antigone Davis, a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta, told Fox 4.
Parts of the SCOPE Act, or House Bill 18, went into effect on Sunday. (Getty Images)
“We’ve built over 30 tools to help young people be safe and have a positive experience on our platform,” Davis added. “We have parental supervision tools, set time limits, and the ability for parents to see who their child is following.”
In the same hearing last year, a Meta representative testified that Facebook and Instagram already have safeguards in place to protect children and that teenagers’ accounts use AI to screen for fake dates of birth being entered to create an account.
Meta also said it blocks targeted ads for a variety of topics on its platforms.
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Some social media companies said that there are already protections in place to protect children online. (Getty Images)
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Brian Dixon, a child psychiatrist with the Texas Medical Association, spoke at the hearing about what he has observed in his young patients regarding the impact of social media on their mental health.
“Now kids have access to all things all the time, and there is no filter. They have no perspective to when they are being advertised and when they are not,” he said.
Courts have blocked similar legislation passed in other states seeking to regulate social media access for young people.
Concern over effectiveness of AMBER Alerts
For nearly 30 years, the AMBER Alert has helped locate hundreds of children, but one of its founders believes changes should be made to make the emergency alert system more effective.
Fox – 7 Austin
An AMBER Alert has been issued for a 13-year-old girl abducted from Louisiana who was last seen in North Texas.
Merlin Chirinos-Argueta was last seen around 7:10 p.m. May 7 in Allen, Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Authorities say the teen was abducted from Keithville, Louisiana, and may be traveling in Texas
Chirinos-Argueta is described as a 13-year-old Hispanic girl with black hair and brown eyes. She is about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds, officials said.
The Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office said Merlin was reported missing Thursday. May 7 from the 6200 block of Bain Boulevard in Keithville. Sheriff Henry Whitehorn Sr. said investigators are asking for the public’s help in locating the teen.
Investigators believe she may be with 18-year-old Daniel Vasquez Mejia, who has black hair and brown eyes.
Merlin has not been in contact with her family, which has raised concerns for her safety and well-being, authorities said. The investigation is ongoing.
Authorities say they may be traveling in a white Chevrolet SUV with Texas license plate VML6061. The vehicle is believed to have a skull sticker on the rear driver’s side back window and a “mojo” sticker on the passenger side rear window.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or contact the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office at 318-675-2170.
AUSTIN, Texas (KBTX) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) that two Texas residents were passengers on the MV Hondius, a ship that experienced an outbreak of hantavirus while traveling in the Atlantic Ocean. The passengers left the ship and returned to the United States before the outbreak was identified.
“Public health workers in Texas have reached the two individuals, and they report they are not experiencing any symptoms and did not have any contact with a sick person while aboard the ship. They have agreed to monitor themselves for symptoms with daily temperature checks and contact public health officials at any sign of a possible illness,” the agency said on Thursday in a statement.
DSHS will not release additional personal details about the passengers to protect their privacy.
“This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”
More than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on board.
Health authorities on at least four continents are now tracking down and in some cases monitoring the cruise passengers who disembarked on April 24, and trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then.
That includes two people in Georgia who are also being monitored, according to our affiliate WTOC.
Hantaviruses are usually spread through contact with wild rodent droppings or urine. The strain in the Hondius outbreak, Andes virus, can spread from person to person in limited circumstances. It typically requires close, prolonged contact with a person who is actively sick with the disease.
It is not known to spread through casual contact such as shaking hands or being in the same room for a few minutes. There have been no documented cases where a person without symptoms spread it to someone else.
Copyright 2026 KBTX. All rights reserved.
PORTLAND (WGME) – A Portland woman who has been held in a Texas ICE facility for more than six months is reportedly set to be released by Friday.
That’s according to Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who traveled to the facility this week to demand that ICE release 19-year-old Olivia Andre.
Pingree says a federal district court judge ordered Andre to be released no later than Friday.
Andre and her family were arrested by ICE when they were seeking asylum in Canada.
DHS previously said Andre is in the United States illegally but didn’t explain why the rest of her family was released and she wasn’t.
Pingree called the conditions at the facility inhumane, and Andre’s lawyer says her physical and mental wellbeing deteriorated from not having access to clean drinking water, palatable food and appropriate medical care.
“Olivia and her family should never have been detained. The federal court ordered her release because the Trump administration had no lawful basis for detaining her,” Pingree said. “She suffered in detention for six months in violation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution’s protections.”
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