Massachusetts Senate reveals social media legislation: an improvement from House bill, but still raises concerns

The Massachusetts Senate has unveiled new legislation regulating social media companies. The Senate version is significantly different from both the House bill and Governor Maura Healey’s proposal. Instead of forcing every user in Massachusetts to verify their age in order to post online, the Senate bill requires social media companies to offer default settings for ALL users that turn off manipulative features like autoplay, infinite scroll, and surveillance driven algorithmic recommendations. Then users would have to go through an “age assurance” system in order to turn those features on if they want to use them.

Evan Greer (she/her), Boston-based LGBTQ+ advocate and the director of Fight for the Future, issued the following statement on the Senate’s legislation:

“No one wants to upload their government ID or get their face scanned in order to post online. The people of Massachusetts resoundingly rejected the dangerous and unconstitutional social media proposals from the House and the Governor. And it’s clear that the Senate took that backlash into consideration when drafting their proposal. The Senate’s bill does not require social media users to verify their ages simply to create accounts or post online, and it removes the blatantly unconstitutional parental consent provisions in the House bill. That said, the Senate bill still raises concerns for civil liberties and could harm LGBTQ+ youth and other marginalized communities if the language isn’t improved in some key areas. Fight for the Future will release a full analysis of the bill in the coming days, and we look forward to working with Massachusetts lawmakers to get this right. Massachusetts can lead the nation with first of its kind legislation that addresses the harm of Big Tech without resorting to censorship and surveillance that hurts vulnerable communities. We won’t stop fighting until that happens.”

Fight for the Future is helping lead a growing coalition of human rights, LGBTQ+, civil liberties, and racial justice groups who oppose dangerous and misguided “age verification” legislation in Massachusetts and around the nation.

• See our letter to MA lawmakers, signed by dozens of organizations including Mass Equality, Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, Sierra Club of MA, Partners in Sex Education, United American Indians of New England (UAINE), The Coalition for Student Mental Health, Progressive Massachusetts, Muslim Justice League, Act On Mass, and dozens more.
  
• See our model social media legislation, which seems to have influenced the Senate’s proposal. Our bill also requires social media companies to turn off harmful features by default for ALL users, rather than forcing users to verify age to create accounts
  
• Boston City Council has passed a resolution condemning age verification and censorship legislation, urging lawmakers to advance privacy and algorithmic justice legislation instead.

Fight for the Future experts and advocates are available to speak to press, contact: press@fightforthefuture.org

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