Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced Monday the filing of a new rule aimed at ending what he described as “Big Tech’s censorship monopoly” by requiring large social media platforms to allow users residing in Missouri to choose their own content moderators.
The rule, codified as 15 CSR 60-19 under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, is being billed as a “first-in-the-nation” action designed to protect online freedom of expression by shifting control over content filtering away from the platforms’ proprietary algorithms and moderation teams.
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“Big Tech oligarchs have manipulated the content Missourians see online and silenced voices they don’t like. That ends now,” Attorney General Bailey said in a statement. “With this rule, Missouri becomes the first state in America to take real, enforceable action against corporate censorship.”
Under the proposed regulation, social media platforms meeting certain size thresholds (generally those with over 50 million distinct active U.S. users and 1 billion worldwide distinct active users, with exceptions for specific service types like email, messaging, marketplaces, etc.) would be prohibited from denying users the ability to select an independent content moderator.
The rule mandates that affected platforms must provide users with a choice screen upon account activation and at regular intervals thereafter. Platforms must not favor their own built-in moderation tools and must allow for full interoperability with third-party moderators selected by users. The rule also forbids social media companies from imposing unreasonable access restrictions on these independent content moderators.
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Exceptions are included in the rule to permit platforms to moderate content related to child exploitation and unlawful threats, regardless of the user’s chosen moderator.
Attorney General Bailey stated the regulation is grounded in the Supreme Court’s guidance from the Moody v. NetChoice decision in 2024, which he interprets as recognizing state governments’ authority to enforce competition laws in the interest of free expression.
“This rule marks the beginning of a sustained effort to dismantle the ‘Big Brother’ speech-control machinery of corporate America,” Bailey added, referencing previous litigation from his office that he claims “helped Missouri blow the lid off the federal government’s massive censorship conspiracy.” He also credited “new leaders in the White House” for reversing policies perceived as the Biden Administration’s “weaponization of Big Tech.”
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The Attorney General’s office plans to announce public forums in the coming weeks to gather additional input and evidence from Missourians regarding what it describes as deceptive practices by social media companies.
The proposed rule defines “content moderation” as filtering, selecting, amplifying, curating, or suppressing content for a user to post or view, and a “content moderator” as a company or person performing this function. A “user” is defined as a person posting or receiving content on a platform while located in Missouri, including those whose accounts have been disabled or locked.
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