Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

On May 6, 2025, the Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced a rule (“Rule”) filed under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (“Act”) on social media platform content moderation. The Rule requires social media platforms to permit Missouri users to choose their own content moderators, rather than relying on the platforms’ own content moderation services. The Rule does so by making the operation of a social media platform without the ability for users to select an independent content moderator an unfair, deceptive, fraudulent or otherwise unlawful practice.

The Rule states it will “clarify that dominant social media companies cannot acquire or exercise monopoly control over content moderation on the social media platforms they operate.” The Rule will require that platforms provide a choice screen on account activation and at least every six months thereafter, refrain from favoring their own moderation tools and enable interoperability with the relevant third party moderators.

The term “social media platform” is defined in the Rule to exclude a platform with functionality fewer than 50 million distinct, active users in the U.S., and fewer than 1 billion worldwide, in a calendar month.