Senator Lewis and Mass. Senate Crack Down on Big Social Media Companies that Target Youth

BOSTON—State Senator Jason Lewis joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate to stand up to big social media companies by passing legislation that reins in how their addictive platforms are specifically engineered to keep minors perpetually on social media at the expense of their health and wellbeing.

Research studies have linked prolonged daily social media use to increased depression and anxiety in youth.

An Act protecting children from addictive social media feeds would require that features such as autoplay, “infinite scroll,” and intrusive algorithms that capitalize on users’ personal data would be turned off by default for minors. Children would not be able to change those default settings, while adult users would retain control over their own settings.

“Endless scrolling on social media is extremely concerning and unhealthy for teens, but I understand why they do it,” said Senator Jason Lewis. “These companies employ meticulously crafted algorithms that track everything we do to suck us in and get us addicted. They put profit over health at the expense of our children, but the state Senate is taking action to protect youth through new social media regulations.”

The new legislation prohibits social media platforms from allowing minors to share their precise location with others and pauses overnight notifications for youth accounts. It also includes added optional safeguards for children, such as limits on the ability of ‘non-friend’ accounts to contact minors’ accounts.

To protect personal data, the bill requires companies to offer multiple ways for people to verify their age, including at least one method that doesn’t require a government-issued ID or biometric data so that users can remain anonymous. Adults would also not be required to verify their age and could instead use the default youth settings if preferred.

After passing with a bipartisan vote of 38-2 in the state Senate, the bill was sent to the House of Representatives for further consideration. Earlier this year, the House passed different legislation also pertaining to youth social media usage.