language: en · status: in-force · last checked: 2026-10-08

Rhode Island — Student Social Media Privacy (R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 16-103-1 to 16-103-6)

Chapter 103 of Title 16 (Education) was enacted by P.L. 2014, ch. 188, § 1 and P.L. 2014, ch. 207, § 1, per each section's history; both acts "shall take effect upon passage" and both are marked enacted on 30 June 2014. It bars an educational institution, public or private and including "any person acting as an agent of the institution" (§ 16-103-1(3)), from:

• requiring, coercing or requesting a student's or applicant's personal social media password or access;
• requiring a student or applicant to add school staff to their contacts or change privacy settings;
• penalising a student, or refusing an applicant, who declines.

A student or applicant who prevails in a civil action may recover damages and fees.

Applicability to EdTech

• School-provided accounts are outside the chapter. "Social media account" covers a broad range of personal electronic content, from "videos, still photographs, blogs" to "email, online service or accounts". It "does not include an account opened at a school's behest, or provided by the school, or intended to be used primarily on behalf of the school" (§ 16-103-1(1)). Accounts a platform provisions for the school are therefore not covered. A feature that asks students to link or reveal personal accounts is.
• A vendor acting for the school can be an "educational institution". The definition includes "any person acting as an agent of the institution" (§ 16-103-1(3)). A product that, on a school's behalf, requests a student's personal-account password or access in the presence of staff falls within § 16-103-2.
• No forced connections or setting changes. As a condition of curricular or extracurricular participation, a school may not compel a student to add staff or volunteers to a personal account's contacts, or to alter settings that affect a third party's view of it (§ 16-103-3).
• Public information is excepted. "This chapter shall not apply to information about a student that is publicly available" (§ 16-103-5).

Contents

Enforcement

"In any civil action alleging a violation of this chapter, the court may" award a prevailing applicant or student declaratory relief, damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. It may also award injunctive relief "against any school or agent of any educational institution" (§ 16-103-6).

Licence

The corpus reproduces R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 16-103-1 to 16-103-6 verbatim from the Rhode Island General Assembly's statutes service, by way of the Internet Archive's unmodified replay of each page.

Statute text enacted by a state legislature is outside copyright under the government edicts doctrine. In Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 590 U.S. 255 (2020) (slip opinion), the Supreme Court held that "officials empowered to speak with the force of law cannot be the authors of—and therefore cannot copyright—the works they create in the course of their official duties". The section pages (webserver.rilegislature.gov … 16-103-1.htm and its siblings, read 2026-10-08 through their Internet Archive id_ captures) carry no copyright notice or terms.

Conditions: none. The corpus names the source in Sources and the route in each section's {.meta} provenance line.

Related

• Rhode Island — student data-cloud computing (§ 16-104-1) — the next chapter of Title 16, binding cloud computing service providers
• FERPA — the federal education-records layer

Sources

• Rhode Island General Assembly — Title 16, Chapter 103 index
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-103-1, § 16-103-2, § 16-103-3, § 16-103-4, § 16-103-5, § 16-103-6
• Rhode Island General Assembly — P.L. 2014, ch. 188 (H 7124 Sub B) and P.L. 2014, ch. 207 (S 2095 Sub A as amended) (read through the Internet Archive captures of March 2025) — each headed "Enacted 06/30/14", with section 4: "This act shall take effect upon passage."