Missouri’s attorney general introduces rule to have users regulate social media algorithms

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KFVS) - As the future of TikTok in the United States remains uncertain, Missouri’s attorney general is pushing for a new rule that would regulate all social media platforms.

Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey wants to implement a new rule that would allow users to decide who controls their algorithm on social media platforms.

Bailey was not immediately available for an interview, but said in a statement, “Big Tech oligarchs have manipulated consumers’ social media feeds for their own purposes and exercised monopoly control over content moderation.”

This would be a first-of-its-kind rule no state has implemented before, but constitutional attorney Dave Roland says it oversteps the attorney general’s power.

“Executive officials are not allowed to make laws, they are prohibited from making their own laws, and that’s exactly what Attorney General Bailey is proposing here,” Roland said.

To comply with the rule, Bailey provided the following guidelines:

1. Users are provided with a choice screen upon account activation and at least every 6 months thereafter that gives them the opportunity to choose among competing content moderators;
2. No selection is chosen by default;
3. The choice screen does not favor the social media platform’s content moderator over those of third parties;
4. When a user chooses a content moderator other than that provided by the social media platform, the social media platform permits that content moderator interoperable access to data on the platform in order to moderate what content is viewed by the user; and
5. Except as expressly authorized below, the social media company does not moderate, censor, or suppress content on the social media platform such that a user is unable to view that content if their chosen content moderator would otherwise permit viewing that content.

Roland said Bailey may be overstepping the social media’s rights to free speech with these guidelines.

“It would force them to accept third parties' decisions about what information is going to be provided to the social media companies' customers, and that, I think, is a violation of the social media company’s First Amendment rights,” Roland said.

Before the rule can go into effect, the attorney general’s office needs to collect public comment.