MA Senate adopts social media legislation with swath of civil liberties-backed improvements, still needs to address age verification concerns

Fight for the Future has been pushing back against online ID checks or so-called “age verification” across the country and working with Massachusetts legislators for months to find a workable solution to kids safety that doesn’t put young people in harm’s way. Massachusetts residents have been calling and writing lawmakers through Fight’s action page at stoponlineIDchecks.org/MA.

JULY 9, BEACON HILL — The Massachusetts Senate has passed its social media bill, along with many proposed amendments from digital privacy and free expression experts. Fight for the Future has been working with MA legislators for months to find the best step forward on kids safety online, without implementing harmful online ID checks or an ‘age verification’ mandate that would require every user to submit government or biometric information to social media companies in order to speak freely.

Many positive amendments were passed that would protect LGBTQ youth and protect data of minors. However, we are extremely disappointed that Amendment 19, which would have changed age verification requirements from opt-out to opt-in to better protect people, since most users don’t understand their rights to opt-out, ultimately failed. This does concern digital rights experts and we will continue to fight and demand that they fix the outstanding problems to address this as the bill moves forward to conference committee.

“The improvements to this legislation shows what can happen when lawmakers who are vested in enacting policies to keep young people safe online actually listen to marginalized communities, LGBTQ youth, and digital rights experts,” said Evan Greer, Director at Fight for the Future. “Despite failing to pass a critical amendment, Massachusetts still has an opportunity to lead the way in policy making around tech by prioritizing the concerns of the most vulnerable populations online and this is an important step towards that. Fight for the Future has been fighting against surveillance and censorship threats in kids safety legislation across the country and this process has given us hope that we can find a way through, without compromising privacy and important resources online. We particularly appreciate Senator Cyr’s willingness to hear out our concerns and work with us to put the best version of this legislation into action in Massachusetts.”

You can find the full list of amendments and Fight for the Future’s voting recommendations for each here: https://docs.fightforthefuture.org/s/9ecb063c-3eac-475f-8347-bd888bb2c7d8

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