“I’m here to speak on behalf of my generation for the harm we’ve experienced,” Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of the advocacy organization Design It For Us, told lawmakers Tuesday. “Some of our generation have developed depression, eating disorders and attempted or taken their life due to social media.”

Among the panelists are Matthew Bergman, Founding Attorney of Social Media Victims Law Center, Zamaan Qureshi, Co-Chair of Design it for Us, Camille Carlton, Senior Policy & Communications Manager for Center for Humane Technology and Robert Weil, Director of Research, Policy, and Field Services, Educational Issues for American Federation of Teachers. 

Qureshi and a coalition of students formed Design It For Us, an advocacy group intended to bring the perspectives of young people to the forefront of the debate about online safety. They are part of a growing constellation of youth advocacy and activist organizations demanding a say as officials consider new rules to govern kids’ activity online.

Bivens-Hernandez along with ParentsTogether, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Psychological Association, Fairplay and Design It For Us are calling on social media companies to take action.

Emma Lembke says it was a major surprise that her tech reform work earned a phone call from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

“I had one of the craziest surprise calls of my life with the Duke and Duchess,” Lembke said creator of Design It for Us. “Harry and Meghan called me to say that I was a grant recipient of the Responsible Youth Tech Fund, that is awarding over $2 million to youth groups who are seeking to better understand for a greater tech future.” 

The snippet showed Prince Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, connecting with Tazin Khan Norelius of Cyber Collective, Trisha Prabhu of ReThink Citizens, Emma Lembke of Design It For Us and Log Off, Sam Hiner of the Young People’s Alliance Education Fund and Sneha Revanur of Encode Justice. They thanked the young leaders for driving change that will benefit the next generation — including their son Archie, 4, and daughter Lilibet, 2.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have surprised young leaders in the tech world with congratulatory phone calls. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle personally called several recipients of the first-ever Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund grants, in a video released on Wednesday 2 August.

“It was a complete surprise. I had no idea I would be speaking with them,” Emma Lembke, the cochair of internet safety advocacy organization Design It For Us, told Vanity Fair. “The duke and the duchess, and all of their work, have been pivotal in moving so many social issues forward and bringing visibility to a lot of important areas, and specifically responsible tech.”

President Biden backed the legislation during an address on mental health on Tuesday, urging the Senate to “pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it.” Biden previously called for legislation protecting children online in his State of the Union address. The bills have garnered the support of a number of children’s safety groups including FairPlay, Design it For Us and Common Sense Media.

The bill has a multitude of co-sponsors as well as the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Joe Biden. Schumer’s staff told the youth advocacy group Design It For Us that the Kids Online Safety Act was “still very much a priority,” according to Axios. Biden also voiced support for legislation protecting children on Wednesday.

Design it for Us Coalition co-chair Zamaan Qureshi said Schumer’s staff told his group passing kids’ online protections was “still very much a priority” during a July 19 meeting. Schumer’s office did not respond to inquiries about whether getting a kids’ online safety package remained a priority.

The federation put out the report with several other organizations that have criticized the impact of social media: the American Psychological Association, Design It For Us, Fairplay and ParentsTogether. 

Design It For Us, a coalition of youth-led organizations that advocates for online protection for youth and young adults, created its installation of white yard signs to call for the passage of the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. 

Recognizing the personal significance of these issues, I co-founded a youth-led coalition called Design It For Us, to advocate for safer online platforms. We aim to achieve policy reforms that protect kids, teens and young adults online, engaging with lawmakers and regulators to hold Big Tech accountable. This is personal for my generation.

“It’s on Big Tech to protect young people by ensuring our privacy is of utmost importance by designing their products with our input, not handing over control to parents to infringe on kids’ right to privacy,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led campaign that supports California-style design code legislation, in a statement.

“The state AG part has been tremendously watered down and concerns have been addressed. It hasn’t gone through markup, and that’s an opportunity to bring up more changes,” said Design It for Us co-chair Zamaan Qureshi.

The bills from Markey, Cassidy, Blumenthal, and Blackburn also got backing from Design It For Us, a coalition of young activists and organizations advocating for safer social media and online platforms. The group applauded the legislation’s focus on regulating how tech companies design their products, rather than leaving it up to kids or parents to mitigate risks.

“Right now, the burden of safety on social media and online platforms falls squarely on me on my peers, and on parents. And when, not if, we are faced with harmful content or interactions online, there are a few places to turn,” said Zamaan Qureshi, youth advocate and co-chair of Design It For Us, self-described as a “coalition of young activists and organizations advocating for safer social media and online platforms for kids, teens and young adults.”

Parents and advocates shared stories Tuesday on how social media is harming kids. “The constant quantification of my worth through likes, comments, and followers, increased my anxiety and deepened my depression,” Design It For Us Youth Advocate Emma Lembke said.

Young users like Emma Lembke and Zamaan Qureshi, who co-chair Design It For Us, argue they should also be in control of their online experience rather than giving the authority solely to parents or guardians. Qureshi said Generation Z should have a “seat at the table.”

Young users like Emma Lembke and Zamaan Qureshi, who co-chair Design It For Us, argue they should also be in control of their online experience rather than giving the authority solely to parents or guardians. Qureshi said Generation Z should have a “seat at the table.”

Emma Lembke, a youth activist and Co-Chair, Design It for Us said, “As I spent more time online, I saw a direct correlation between my deterioration of my mental and physical health as I continued to scroll.”

“Right now, the burden of safety on social media and online platforms falls squarely on me on my peers, and on parents. And when, not if, we are faced with harmful content or interactions online, there are a few places to turn,” said Zamaan Qureshi, youth advocate and co-chair of Design It For Us, self-described as a “coalition of young activists and organizations advocating for safer social media and online platforms for kids, teens and young adults.”

Earlier today, a consortium of 10 youth organizations sent a letter to congressional leaders and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy calling on them to include more young people on AI oversight and advisory boards. The letter, provided first to DFD, was spearheaded by Sneha Revanur, a first-year student at Williams College in Massachusetts and the founder of Encode Justice, an AI-focused civil society group.

Other signers-on to today’s briefs include: former California Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo), the co-author of the California AADC; Tech reform organizations Fairplay, Common Sense Media and Center for Humane Technology; youth-led advocacy groups like Civics Unplugged and Design It For Us; Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen; and former U.S. Reps. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Chris Shays (R-Conn.).

One youth-led coalition that’s been involved in the kids’ online safety debate, Design It For Us, said the mandatory age verification bill from Schatz and others “misses the mark.”

Youth-led coalition Design it For Us released a statement saying in part, “We believe that any legislation addressing harm on social media should put the onus on companies to make their platforms safer, instead of preventing kids and teens from being on platforms at all.”

A couple of outside groups, like the youth-led coalition Design It For Us, said a bill focused on age identification and parental control “misses the mark” and should instead focus on “age appropriate design code” to keep children safe online.

“We believe that any legislation addressing harm on social media should put the onus on companies to make their platforms safer, instead of preventing kids and teens from being on platforms at all,” said Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi.

In response to the bill, Design it For Us, a youth coalition pushing for changes to social media in the face of mental health concerns, said lawmakers should focus on shaping the basic product design of social media platforms, rather than imposing after-the-fact usage limitations.

Recently passed laws in Utah and Arkansas laws aren’t about tech accountability or children’s safety, write Emma Lembke and Zamaan Qureshi, both age 20.

Design it For Us, a coalition of youth activists pushing for changes to platform regulation, lamented that the perspectives of internet natives were not reflected in the bill.

“To us, that means having control of what happens online,” George Washington University student Arielle Geismar said. “Currently, large tech companies are using our data. They’re tracking young people. And, they’re using the materials we have and what we do on social media for their own profit.”

Maryland youth are calling on lawmakers to pass legislation that would protect their privacy online, but it may be a tough sell…Young people from across the state showed up Friday at the State House to turn up the heat on legislators to pass the bills.

Another campaign led by youth advocates, the Design It For Us campaign, has been rallying around the bill’s passage for the past few months, taking out a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times and sending a billboard-covered truck to legislators at a tech summit in Napa.

Safety parameters exist on everything that kids touch except social media. Social media was not designed for children, it was designed for adults. It’s now time you design it for us.

The Design It For Us campaign stemmed from this desire to include youth in the coalition and I’ve just found this work to be so invigorating. As young people, we can’t come to the solution by ourselves. And as the older generation, we can’t come to the solution by ourselves.