Design It For Us Unveils Declaration of Digital Rights

Design It For Us today unveiled its Declaration of Digital Rights, which centers youth voices in determining policy and design priorities needed to protect young users of social media platforms. Grounded in polling conducted during Design It For Us’ campus tour, the Declaration of Digital Rights presents a youth-led vision for social media advocacy.

Youth coalition presents new vision for tech advocacy in 2025

Design It For Us today unveiled its Declaration of Digital Rights, which centers youth voices in determining policy and design priorities needed to protect young users of social media platforms. Grounded in polling conducted during Design It For Us’ campus tour, the Declaration of Digital Rights presents a youth-led vision for social media advocacy.

“For too long, Big Tech companies have put their young users at risk through the addictive and harmful algorithms on their social media platforms,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us. “As Meta and other tech platforms scale back their moderation practices, it has become increasingly important for us to reaffirm our values and underscore our priorities as companies continue to show that they care less for their users and more about kowtowing to the incoming administration. This declaration represents a new vision for tech advocacy in 2025 that we encourage our legislators to prioritize.”

“Our campus tour gave us an opportunity to hear and collaborate with our peers. We are creating a venue for us to express the rights we hold closest as we evaluate the ever-changing landscape of emerging technology. Our tour allowed us to gather useful data to prove what we know to be true about our lived experiences and desires for a better internet,” said Arielle Geismar, co-chair of Design It For Us. “This new product sheds light on what young people care about the most when it comes to social media use: privacy, safety, and agency. As more and more decisions are made by tech executives and legislators without input from those who experience its harms the most, we’re proud to create this bold new step.”

The declaration, which can be read here, emphasizes the importance of 12 key principles:

Right to privacy
Right to safety
Right to not be experimented on
Right to agency
Right to user controls
Right to delete
Right to choice
Right to a seat at the table
Right to connect
Right to transparency
Right to accountability
Right to be protected from manipulation

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