Efforts to protect minors online, especially from artificial intelligence, are advancing in the Missouri legislature.
The House voted 145-3 in favor of a bill Monday that targets people who share, or threaten to share, deepfakes of a child.
"It's about truth (and) transparency in the age of artificial intelligence," said Rep. Wendy Hausman, R-St. Peters, the bill's sponsor. "Missourians deserve to know what is real and what is not."
Under the legislation, people would also be penalized for sharing intimate deepfakes of anyone over 18 who did not consent.
Victims of either offense would be able to seek damages – and by the end of 2026, online platforms would need to provide avenues for people to have depictions of themselves removed.
Hausman said Missouri lags behind other states in enacting guardrails for AI.
"Artificial intelligence is already being used – fake voices, fake images and fake video," Hausman said. "It's a scam to seniors, it humiliates individuals and it exploits children. It's not a hypothetical."
Several provisions of the bill deal with artificial intelligence, including one outlawing the use of AI to create explicit sexual material of a person without their consent. Another adds artificially generated content to the list of things that can be considered child pornography.
The legislation garnered broad bipartisan support, including from Rep. Marty Joe Murray, D-St. Louis.
"There are times where I question whether or not to even post my daughter on social media because of the way that people take those images and do illicit things with them," Murray said. "This bill, if it were to be able to make it to the governor's desk, would be one of the best things that we could do in terms of safeguarding Missourians."
Under the bill, developers would also be prohibited from representing AI as a service that can provide therapy or act as a mental health professional. The attorney general would be required to enforce the law.
Similar legislation passed a Senate committee earlier this month, following testimony that minors have turned to chatbots for advice.
Social media ban for minors
Another provision of the bill, added as an amendment by Rep. Don Mayhew, R-Crocker, would ban social media for children under 16 unless they have express permission from a parent or guardian.
Named after Megan Meier, a St. Charles teen who died by suicide after falling victim to cyberbullying, the legislation would place strict requirements on social media platforms, including age verification for all Missouri users.
"We've heard the stories about all of these things happening, where children are talked into doing some of the craziest things by folks on the internet," Mayhew said.
Platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, would be required to provide monitoring power to parents and terminate accounts within 10 days at their request.
The legislation would also prohibit platforms from using addictive design features or advertising to target minors and from permitting direct messaging with most adults.
HB 1887 now goes to the Senate, where Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs, D-St. Louis, recommended the chamber consider adding a sunset to the legislation.
"We are legislating based on the best evidence that we have here today," Fuchs said. "As AI continues to advance, I believe we owe it to the public to revisit this topic."
Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio