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Mass. House passes bill restricting teen social media and phones in schools
The bill would ban phones in schools and require parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to access social media.
The Massachusetts House on Wednesday approved a bill that would bar children under 14 from using social media and require a “bell-to-bell” ban on cellphones in public schools.
The measure, which passed 129–25, goes further than the Senate’s version, approved last summer, that banned cellphone use, but did not include the new restrictions on young teens’ access to social media.
Under the House bill, children under 14 would be blocked from using social platforms entirely, while 14- and 15-year-olds would need parental permission. Users 16 and older would face no limits.
The proposal now heads back to the Senate for further consideration.
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“The harmful impacts of unregulated technology on our children are something our educators and librarians have long been concerned about,” said Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers, Massachusetts, in a statement.
Tang continued, “The bills passed by both the House and Senate take important steps to ensure each child has access to a learning experience free of distraction and negative influence.”
Under the House bill, social media companies would have to establish age verification systems to vet current and prospective users.
School districts would have to implement policies prohibiting cell phone use, with updated policies submitted to the state’s Department of Elementary & Secondary Education by Sept. 1 each year.
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“This bill will protect children from harmful content and addictive algorithms, and ensure that our students are able to focus in the classroom without the distraction from cell phones,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-Quincy, in a statement.
The ban “would be among the most restrictive in the entire country,” Mariano and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said in a joint statement prior to the vote.
The bill’s passage comes as Gov. Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and many other influential elected officials in Massachusetts have increased their public skepticism of social media companies and the negative impact that they can have on young people.
During her State of the Commonwealth address earlier this year, Healey pushed for social media companies to require parental consent and age verification.
“These platforms are built with addictive algorithms, and they exploit insecurities, especially in our young people,” Healey said. “We’re going to prevent social media companies from targeting kids for profit. Parents are trying to protect their kids, and we’re going to help them do it.”
However, a small coalition of the Massachusetts LGBTQ groups led by the advocacy group Fight for the Future have come out against the age-restriction bans.
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“Do Massachusetts lawmakers believe that young people have nothing valuable to contribute to society?” questioned Evan Greer, a Boston-based transgender activist and director of Fight for the Future, in a statement. “That’s what this bill seems to say.”
Greer argues that the bill would make it less safe for children if they are forced to upload their government ID or submit to a facial recognition scan to post online.
In addition, the term “social media” is so broad, it’s unclear where the line will be drawn for users, Greer said.
“This legislation would have kicked Greta Thuneberg off social media before she organized her first climate protest,” Greer said. “How does that make kids safer?”
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