JEFFERSON CITY — One of former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s headline-grabbing actions — a rule that would have required social media companies to provide third-party content moderators — was quietly dropped just before he resigned.

Bailey became co-deputy director of the FBI on Monday and was replaced as attorney general by Catherine Hanaway. The rule for social media companies was announced in May and hailed by Bailey as a protection for individual free speech on popular platforms.

“This rule marks the beginning of a sustained effort to dismantle the ‘Big Brother’ speech-control machinery of corporate America,” Bailey said in a May 6 news release.

The proposed rules were published in the Missouri Register on June 16. Comments closed on July 16, opening a 59-day window

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