Mass.gov Linking Policy

Mass.gov links to content and tools that help citizens and state agencies. Links will go directly to the most relevant pages, not necessarily to organizational home pages.

Table of Contents

General policy

At our discretion, we may link to websites that:

  • Are official federal, state, or local government-owned or supported or provide official government information or services
  • Are accessible to users with disabilities
  • Are applicable to a wide audience of local citizens and state agencies
  • Contain current, accurate, and authoritative content
  • Are easy to navigate

We will not link to websites that:

  • Handle the privacy of personal information in a way that is inconsistent with Mass.gov's privacy policy
  • Are associated with political or advocacy groups for a political party, organization, or candidate running for office
  • Promote or exhibit hate, bias, discrimination, pornography; libelous or otherwise defamatory content
  • Promote any religion or religious viewpoint
  • Are individual or personal home pages

Links to government websites

Mass.gov can add a link to any government website that is publicly available unless directed not to by the agency that owns the site. Acceptable federal government-owned or state government-sponsored website domains include .gov, .mil, .fed.us, and state.xx.us.

Mass.gov also links to quasi-government agencies and websites created by public sector/private sector partnerships; state and local government sites; and some government-sponsored websites that end in .com, .org, or .net (for example, www.mbta.com for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority).

Links to non-government websites

In rare instances, Mass.gov links to websites that are not government-owned or government-sponsored if these websites provide government information and/or services in a way that is not available on an official government website. Mass.gov provides these non-government websites as a public service only. (See our Terms of Use for more information on this topic.)

Questions about Mass.gov website policies

If you have questions about Mass.gov website policies, you can use this form. Please do not include sensitive information, such as Social Security or bank account numbers. This form will only be responded to if the submission is about a Mass.gov website policy. All other questions or submissions will not receive a response.

Please use www.search.mass.gov or the Ask MA chatbot for questions about other subjects.

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