BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Gov. Maura Healey announced her proposal to protect young children from the dangers of social media Tuesday, days after the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed different legislation with a similar goal.
Under Healey’s proposal, social media companies would be required to verify the ages of their users and “establish strong default safety settings for users under 18,” according to a press release from the governor’s office.
“Social media is driving a tremendous amount of anxiety and hurting kids in a number of different ways,” Healey said. “That happens because these social media platforms, these companies, have designed products to be addictive and to exploit young people’s insecurities.”
The safety settings outlined in Healey’s proposal would be designed to disable “addictive” features, including infinite scroll and auto-play. Social media companies would also be required to limit users to two hours of cumulative time per day on their platforms.
These settings would be enabled by default but could be changed by users who are more than 16 years old. Users 15 and under would need a parent or guardian to change the settings.
Healey’s proposal stands in contrast to other legislation weaving through the State House.
Last year, the Senate passed a bill to ban students from using cell phones at school. Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed an amended version of the legislation that includes a full ban on social media for children under 14.
While Healey’s proposal would put restrictions on social media for young people, it would not prevent children from using social media, as the House proposal would.
“This isn’t a ban, but it is deactivation and a default to deactivate the things that we know are most addictive to kids on social media,” Healey said.
In a statement to WBZ NewsRadio, a House of Representatives spokesperson said representatives still see the merits of their legislation.
“We look forward to working with the Senate through the conference committee process, and to sending Governor Healey legislation that protects children in Massachusetts from the dangers of social media — including harmful content and addictive algorithms that have a proven negative effect on their mental health and academic performance,” the statement read.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Mike Macklin (@mikemacklinwbz) reports.
