Mention Category: Article

Like many young social media privacy advocates, Arielle Geismar was no stranger to mental health issues impacting young people when she and Zamaan Qureshi partnered to try to bring about change.

“No matter how magnanimously Instagram describes its product updates, its goal is usually to keep people on the app for longer and longer,” said Zamaan Qureshi, a founder of Design It For Us, a nonprofit that pushes for policy to protect children and teenagers online.

On Tuesday, June 10th, youth-led advocacy organizations Design It For Us and Encode hosted a rally in support of tech legislation in the New York State Capitol. Young people from across the state gathered with lawmakers, united by a shared call to pass legislation designed to protect against the harms of social media and AI.

Design It for Us, a youth-led coalition that advocates for AADC bills, urged Scott to sign the bill.

Groups like Common Sense Media, Design It For Us, Mothers Against Media Addiction and the Tech Oversight Project have spearheaded the effort under the umbrella of the Kids Code Coalition.

“Meta’s persistent failure to protect young people from predators on Instagram reveals deep and dangerous flaws in its platform, one that stems from the unchecked power it holds as a social media monopoly,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair on the online safety watchdog Design It For Us.