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Learn moreIn 2022, youth-led organizations — LOG OFF and Tech(nically) Politics — came together to create the “Design It for Us” campaign in support of the bipartisan California Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC).
Design It For Us was an innovative multimedia effort for young people to share why online spaces should be designed for them. The campaign elevated youth voices and secured the unanimous passage of the California AADC, the most significant tech accountability bill to pass anywhere in the United States this century.
Building on the success of the youth-led campaign, Design It For Us has grown into a youth-led coalition to advocate for safer online platforms and social media. The new first-of-its-kind “Design It For Us” coalition aims to drive and achieve key policy reforms to protect kids, teens, and young adults online through the mobilization of youth activists, leaders, and voices. The youth-led coalition is led by two Co-Chairs and a Core Team of young people between the age of 18 and 26. The coalition is supported by an array of youth activists, youth-led organizations, and advisors.
Content creator, digital wellness advocate, and leader in student organizing. Arielle’s organizing has reached areas around mental health, technology ethics, and LGBTQ+ rights. Named Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21, she has been featured in the NY Times, MTV, CNN, and more. As a creator, she makes content on mental health and has partnered on social issue campaigns with Toms and Patagonia. She served on Biden’s Transition team advising on the youth mental health crisis and is currently George Washington University’s Student Association President.
Zamaan Qureshi is an activist and advocate for safer social media for young people. He has been profiled in publications like the Washington Post and written for TIME Magazine advocating for Congressional policy reforms. In 2023, the President invited him to White House events on advancing mental health access and the signing of an executive order on artificial intelligence. He has testified in state legislatures like Vermont and Illinois supporting state-based legislation. Zamaan is the first young person to successfully FOIA and sue the SEC. He is a recent graduate of American University where he earned a B.A. in international studies and political science.
Thanasi Dilos is 20 years old and a co-founder of Civics Unplugged, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) social enterprise whose mission is to empower future leaders with the training, funding, and community they need to become civic innovators. Civics Unplugged has graduated over 3,000 Civic Innovation Fellows and moved over $400,000 to support youth-led social change projects across the United States. Thanasi is also a partner at Gotham Labs, an impact venture studio. He is a National Geographic Explorer and Innovator in Residence at Project Liberty.
Sam is a student and a co-founder and the Executive Director of the Young People’s Alliance. The Young People’s Alliance is a national youth movement that spawned out of a need for better youth representation in politics. Primarily based in North Carolina, Sam attends UNC-Chapel Hill and leads youth-centered advocacy initiatives on colleges campuses throughout NC, in the NC General Assembly, and in the US Congress.
Emma Lembke is a youth digital advocate. As a senior in high school, Lembke founded LOG OFF, a youth movement dedicated to uplifting and empowering youth to tackle the complexities of social media and its impact on their privacy, safety, and mental health. Her efforts have been covered by numerous media outlets including the New York Times, 60 Minutes, CBS, MTV, NPR, The Hill, and Bloomberg. In February 2023, Emma became one of the first young people to testify before Congress regarding tech policy.
Sneha Revanur is a youth leader committed to asking critical, big-picture questions about the future of innovation. In July 2020, she founded Encode Justice, an international, youth-powered organization building a movement for human-centered artificial intelligence. Encode Justice now includes over 600 high school and college students across over 40 U.S. states and 25 countries. Sneha has worked with stakeholders and audiences at the White House, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Trade Commission, and United Nations.
Neha Shukla is an inventor, social entrepreneur, AI ethicist, and activist fighting for ethical and responsibly-designed AI that protects young people. She serves as the Chair at the World Economic Forum’s Generation AI Youth Council, leading a team of young activists pushing for equitable AI policy in collaboration with corporations and policymakers. Neha is the author of “A Kids Book About AI” to raise awareness of the ethical challenges facing AI amid the nationwide push for AI literacy, and she has reached over 75,000 young people across 35 countries through her global innovation and civic engagement workshops. Neha works to create grassroots solutions for our communities and climate using tech, tackling issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and homelessness with support from Microsoft, Apple, NASA, and NVIDIA. Her innovations and activism are featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, Bloomberg, ABC, and the Nasdaq billboard in Times Square and commended by President Biden and the Royal Family.
The coalition also includes a diverse array of individuals across the world who add leadership, support, perspective, and power to the coalition’s work.