In a plan to protect children from the impacts of social media, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday highlighted a proposal for age-appropriate restrictions in default settings.
“It’s been studied and the data is clear – but you don’t need the data to know that these platforms are causing anxiety, depression, addiction and lowering self-esteem,” healey said in a media release following the event on Tuesday. “The fact is these social media platforms have been designed to get kids addicted. My proposal takes the power away from social media platforms and gives it back to parents and young people, while also forcing platforms to turn on technologies that will better protect the health and wellbeing of our kids.”
Education Secretary Stephen Zrike also spoke.
A proposed bill that would ban social media use for all children under the age of 14 in Massachusetts passed the House last week. Lawmakers have said the ban would be among the most restrictive in the nation.
The bill would prohibit social media use for children under 14 in Massachusetts and require social media platforms to obtain parental consent for children between the ages of 14 and 15. At the age of 16, minors would be able to use social media without parental consent. It still needs to pass the Senate and be signed by Healey before it can become law.
The governor’s bill would require social media companies to set default safety settings for anyone under 18 so the protections would be automatic. The governor wants to see settings that disable addictive features like infinite scroll, auto-play and algorithm-based feeds that keep users watching indefinitely.
She is also pushing for stronger privacy protections, such as default settings that turn off location tracking options, disable notifications and restrict access to apps overnight and during school hours, and limit cumulative use to two hours per day. For users 15 and under, parental consent would be required to modify these defaults.
The bill also requires an easier way to flag potentially harmful content and reset algorithm-driven content, and periodic reminders to users about how long they’ve been using the platform.
The governor was joined by others, including Education Secretary Stephen Zrike, in calling for guardrails on social media platforms to better protect children and young people.
“As an educator and parent of teenagers, I have seen firsthand the negative impact social media has had on our students and our schools,” Zrike said. “We have a youth mental health crisis in this country that is going to take a variety of tools and strategies to solve. I am grateful to Governor Healey for filing this legislation that will enable critical online safety standards, promoting the wellbeing of our children and families.”
Healey had proposed a similar ban in her State of the Commonwealth speech earlier this year.
