DiDomenico Co-Sponsors Social Media Privacy Protections

BOSTON –Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) and his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed S.2320, An Act relative to social media privacy protection. Senator DiDomenico is a co-sponsor of this legislation that aims to protect the personal social media accounts of students and employees across the Commonwealth.

Specifically, the legislation prevents employers and schools from requesting and requiring access to the personal social media accounts of applicants, employees, and students as a condition of acceptance, employment, or participation in school activities.

“In today’s digital age, social media privacy has become more important than ever,” said Senator DiDomenico, Assistant Majority Leader of the Massachusetts Senate. “This bill will provide critical protection for employees and students to ensure that their personal social media accounts receive the same legal protections as all other forms of private communications.” 

“As social media users reveal more and more about themselves, it is important that we enact privacy protections,” said Senate President Harriette L. Chandler (D-Worcester). “While users must remain aware of how much information they divulge, it is also imperative that privacy protections be implemented and enforced to ensure that information contained on a social media account is not abused.”

More than twenty-five states have already enacted legislation addressing this issue, and bills on this topic are pending in many other jurisdictions. This is the third session in which the Senate has voted favorably on this bill. 

The legislation now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.

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