Data privacy advocate Evan Greer on Mass. Senate’s social media bill, how to protect kids online
Data privacy advocate Evan Greer on Mass. Senate’s social media bill, how to protect kids online
Publish Date: 2026-07-03 10:30:00
Source Domain: www.wgbh.org
The Massachusetts State Senate unveiled legislation Thursday to restrict social media use for minors, requiring social media companies to disable features deemed addictive or negative for young peoples mental health.
The bill (S.3164) avoids one controversial element present in proposals put forward in April by Governor Maura Healey and the state’s House of Representatives: a requirement for social media companies to use age verification technology.
Critics have pushed back against those proposals, arguing that requirements to submit government-issued identification or other personal information would be a major privacy and constitutional rights issue.
Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, a Boston-based nonprofit digital rights advocacy group, joined Morning Edition to discuss.
this transcript has been edited for clarity.
TORI BEDFORD: Let’s talk about this legislation released by the Senate… it’s the latest development on this ongoing back and forth about how to protect kids on social media… importantly, the Senate bill doesn’t require companies to verify users ages — but the legislation directs the state Attorney General’s office to make their own regulations specifying HOW a persons age can be verified. Can you explain how that’s different from previously proposed legislation?
EVAN GREER:
Yeah, absolutely. So I really think you see kind of the fingerprints of the public of Massachusetts on this Senate bill. And, you know, maybe we should take a moment to pat ourselves on the back that democracy still works a little bit here in the state, because the public backlash to the House bill and the Governor’s bill was loud and overwhelming.
The reality is that nobody wants to upload their government ID or hand more sensitive information over to these companies that already collect so much data on all of us. And so where the Senate bill differs significantly is: rather than forcing social media companies to…
