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Illinois Senate hearing on social media’s impact on children

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. 

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Long sidelined, youth activists demand a say in online safety debate

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.

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Local university students chosen as award recipients for Prince Harry and Meghan’s nonprofit charity organization

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.” 

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Reveal Why Archie and Lilibet Will Be ‘Grateful’ in New Video

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.

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Harry and Meghan Announce the Winners of $2 Million in Grants For Responsible Tech

“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.”

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Children’s online safety bills clear Senate hurdle despite strong civil liberties pushback

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.

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Controversial legislation to protect children on social media advances in Senate

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.

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The path forward for kids’ online safety

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.

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Young People Lobby Congress for More Online Protections

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. 

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Measures needed to enhance online safety

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.

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Youth online safety bills win passage in 3 more states

“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.

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Teen Data Safeguards Floated in Kids’ Privacy Law Proposal

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.

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Bipartisan pair of lawmakers push to protect children online

“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.”

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Online Kids Safety Act Introduced

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.”

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Bipartisan pair of lawmakers push to protect children online

“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.”

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Meet the Greta Thunberg of AI

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.

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More Backing for Tech Law

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.).

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Keeping Tabs on Kids’ Privacy

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.”

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Lawmakers, parents clash over social media age requirement

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.”

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Students lobby for online protections in Annapolis

“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.”

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Newsom signs bill to make tech companies protect kids online

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.

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Young Advocates for the California Age-Appropriate Design Code

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.

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