Massachusetts Governor Healey Targeting ‘Addictive’ Social Media

Don't look now, but here come the Massachusetts social media police. Their goal is to regulate what your kids see and do online. Why? Because they know best.

Governor Maura Healey indicated in her recent State of the Commonwealth Address, delivered to a joint session of the Massachusetts Legislature, that the time has come for government intervention into what your kids are doing online.

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"Now, let me speak to you as someone who's got two kids at home," Healey said in her speech. Healey and partner Joanna Lydgate are raising Lydgate's 11 and 13-year-old daughters.

"Something we all worry about is social media," Healey said. "Look, scrolling TikTok or Instagram, it's fun! But there's a time and a place, and especially for our kids, it's driving so much anxiety and impacting their self-esteem."

"These platforms are built with addictive algorithms, and they exploit insecurities, especially in our young people," she said. "So I am proposing strict new requirements to protect kids and teens on social media."

"We will require parental consent and age verification on all of these platforms," Healey vowed in her address. "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," she said.

Senate President Agrees With the Governor

Asked by State House News Service (SHNS) for her reaction to Healey's remarks about social media following the address, Senate President Karen Spilka said she was "pleased."

"It aligns really wonderfully with the Senate's cell phone ban and with our data privacy bill," Spilka said. "It hones in on protecting children, which is what we have been focusing on in the Massachusetts Senate as well."

A full transcript of Gov. Healey's State of the Commonwealth Address is available via Mass.gov.