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State Children's Privacy Law Tracker / Massachusetts

Massachusetts Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

2 laws & bills tracked · overall: Pending · current as of July 18, 2026

Massachusetts has 2 tracked children's privacy laws and bills, each listed below with its status, the ages it covers, litigation posture, and a link to the official primary source. For the interactive view, open Massachusetts in the tracker map.

An Act protecting children from social media and prohibiting cell phones in schools (House youth technology / social media age-verification bill) · S.2581, "An Act to promote student learning and mental health" (House version engrossed as H.5366; now in a House-Senate conference committee)

Pending: A bill was introduced this cycle but is not yet law. · Social media · not enacted; 2026-10-01 is the date written into the engrossed House text for the social-media age-restriction provisions, not an operative date. The conference committee was appointed 2026-05-20, before the July 31 cutoff, so under the 194th General Court's joint rules this bill can still be reported out and voted on in formal session after 2026-07-31 · binds platforms, operators

Ages: under 14 barred; 14-15 require verifiable parental consent

Requires: Would require social media platforms to verify user age, bar account holders under 14, and obtain verifiable parental consent for users 14-15; the AG would write age-verification regulations. It also includes a statewide school cell-phone ban with a 10-district pilot for device-disabling technology. Not yet law: passed the House as H.5366 on 2026-04-08 (129-25), but stalled in conference committee since 2026-05-20 reconciling it with the Senate's differing version.

Litigation: None; not enacted, so no enforcement litigation. The underlying bill (S.2581, formerly H.5366) is stalled in a House-Senate conference committee appointed 2026-05-20 after the Senate rejected the House's amendments on 2026-05-07; no resolution has been reported. Advocacy opposition to the age-verification mandate continues (Fight for the Future, ACLU-MA, Mass 50501, and a 50+ group coalition with Rep. Mike Connolly). Separately, the Senate passed its own youth social-media design bill, S.3164, 38-2 on 2026-07-09, which is now pending before the House (tracked as a new, separate bill; see newLaws).

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

An Act protecting children from addictive social media feeds · S.3164, reprinted as amended and engrossed as S.3175

Pending: A bill was introduced this cycle but is not yet law. · Social media · binds platforms, operators

Ages: protective defaults apply to minor accounts and to any user who declines age verification

Requires: Would require social media platforms to turn off addictive design features by default for minors, including autoplay, infinite scroll, and algorithmic feeds recommending content from unfollowed accounts, plus disable push notifications between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and prompt time-on-platform reminders. Platforms must offer at least one age-verification method that does not require biometric data or a government ID, with the Attorney General to set standards for what is commercially reasonable and technically feasible. Only verified adults could share location data, nonprofit and open-source platforms (e.g. Wikipedia, GitHub) could be exempted, and the AG must file annual reports on the law's impact.

Litigation: None; not enacted. Passed the Senate 38-2 on 2026-07-09 (Roll Call #206; 12 amendments adopted, 6 rejected), was reprinted as amended as S.3175, and was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means on 2026-07-15. Unlike the conference-committee bill tracked above, this one has not yet reached a conference committee, so it must clear the House and reach conference before 2026-07-31 to stay live in formal session after that date.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Federal · COPPAapplies here too

Regardless of state law, COPPA governs personal information collected from children under 13: notice, verifiable parental consent, data minimization, and (under the 2025 amended Rule) limits on retention and third-party sharing.

Source

How Massachusetts compares

Not legal advice. I build products for a living; I'm not a lawyer. Compiled from primary sources and reviewed monthly as part of the State Children's Privacy Law Tracker; AI-assisted research, verified against each law's official source, but laws and injunctions change fast, so confirm the latest before relying on it. Related: COPPA's Gray Areas.

Cite this page: Calvo, Isaac A. "Massachusetts: Children's Privacy Laws." isaaccalvo.com/child-privacy-laws/massachusetts (data as of 2026-07-18).