Massachusetts Under-14 Social Media Ban (H.5366)
United States- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- Became Law
The House version would bar under-14s from social media outright, make platforms delete their accounts, require parental consent for 14 and 15 year olds, and ban phones in schools from bell to bell.
Latest update
Passed the House 129-25
This bill is still moving
This bill is still moving, so there's still time to push back.
Contact LawmakersWhat it does
The Bill has two halves. Schools must prohibit personal devices for the whole school day, using either secure storage or technology that makes a phone inoperable, and must also teach students about the harms of social media. The online half creates a new Online Protection chapter. Anyone under 14 is barred from holding a social media account, and platforms must terminate the accounts that already exist and delete the personal information behind them. A 14 or 15 year old needs verified parental consent to hold one at all. Those accounts then default to connected-accounts-only visibility and messaging, with no algorithmic feed and no notifications overnight. Platforms must run an age assurance system using the best available technology and offer a three-day appeal against its verdict. Data gathered for that purpose must be kept segregated and confidential, and platforms must publish how many users they verified and how many they turned away. Data about a minor's LGBTQ status cannot be shared. Fines reach 5,000 dollars for each non-compliant account. The online chapter would take effect on October 1, 2026, with attorney general rules due a month earlier.
Why it matters
Massachusetts is running two very different answers at once. The Senate bill leaves everyone on the platform and turns off the addictive parts, bars identification-only age checks, and allows a user to decline the check. This House version removes children from the platform altogether and requires age assurance with none of those limits, so verification becomes the load-bearing part rather than an afterthought. Whichever survives decides whether the state ends up regulating design or policing entry, and the Senate bill is now with House Ways and Means.
Our take
Removing every under-14 account means checking the age of every account, which is the whole population, not the children. The House wants platforms to use the best technology available, which is an instruction to guess harder rather than a limit on what they may demand. Comparing the two chambers is useful for once, because the Senate showed that the same worry can be answered without carding the entire state.
Timeline
Passed the House 129-25
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