Facebook whistleblower Arturo Béjar and youth activist Sneha Revanur ’26 delved into the impact of social media on young adults’ mental health.

On September 5th, 2024, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez added to ongoing legal scrutiny of Big Tech firms by filing a lawsuit against Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, alleging that the company systemically failed to protect children from sextortion, sexual exploitation, and harm. 

The Campus Y hosted a discussion last week with Design It For Us, an advocacy coalition that promotes youth involvement in the design of online spaces.

Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition aiming to improve online privacy, hosted a panel Sept. 11 in the Mary Graydon Center with experts who are focused on addressing just that — what the daily “I agree,” “yes” and “allow” really mean for young people. 

Some of the senators who had spoken earlier also made remarks at the rally, as did the attorney general of New Mexico, the Facebook whistle-blower Arturo Béjar, and a youth activist named Zamaan Qureshi, who announced that a “coalition of young people” was determined “to take back control of our lives from social-media companies.” Arielle Geismar, George Washington University’s student-body president at the time, said, “We were forced to play a dopamine slot machine at the expense of our life.”

Arielle Geismar, co-chair of the youth-led Design It For Us campaign, said that the White House bringing these companies to the table is a step in the right direction. “Frankly, I would have loved to see them come to the conclusion by themselves, but I think it’s pretty clear that these tech companies are not quite able to regulate themselves,” she said.

A youth advocacy group for safer online practices is pushing for tougher restrictions on social media platforms after a House committee last week approved a watered-down version of a kids’ online safety measure.

“To the student advocates, like Design It For Us, who have urged us to move this forward, thank you for sharing your experiences and urging Congress to act.”

A Conversation with “Design it for Us” Leaders Zamaan Qureshi and Arielle Geismar

Design it for Us launches a “campus tour” at universities on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

The campaign to pass Kids Code laws in multiple states is spearheaded by a coalition of youth and parent advocacy groups that espouses a “safety by design” approach to building online products that kids are likely to encounter. Members of the coalition include Common Sense Media, Design It for Us, the Center for Humane Technology and The Student Data Privacy Project.

An alliance of little-known advocacy groups has convinced five states to pass laws to protect kids online and is now making inroads in Washington. The nonpartisan coalition has done it by delivering parents’ and kids’ stories about bullying and exploitative content on Facebook, TikTok and other platforms. By focusing on the harms to kids’ health, these organizations have helped enact laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and New York meant to regulate social media for minors.

Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of the youth-led group Design It For Us, also pushed for quick action on KOSA after Thursday’s cancelled markup — especially given the dwindling legislative calendar. “With such limited time left this year, Congress does not have the luxury to keep kicking the can down the road. It’s time for our Congressional leaders to step up.”

“I think that young people have had a tremendous amount of stress and burden placed on them to have to figure out and police their own social media usage,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-founder of Design it for Us, which pushes for safer social media for young people.

The youth-led coalition, Design It For Us, placed hundreds of signs on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, calling on lawmakers to pass legislation to require Big Tech to put young people’s safety and well-being ahead of profits, and design online platforms for kids, teens, and young adults at U.S. Capitol, West Lawn on July 17, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Zamaan Qureshi is the co-chair of Design It for Us, a youth advocacy group championing safe social media policy. He echoed the idea of “privacy and safety by design.”

“Even if users under the age of 13 are banned from social media, this does little to stem the threats of harmful design features and the targeting of toxic content many young people are exposed to,” Qureshi shared in an email to E2024.

 Emma Lembke, founder of an organization called LOG OFF and Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of an organization called Design It For Us, also participated as panelists alongsize Torrez. 

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, is part of a virtual town hall addressing youth and social media Wednesday evening. The event was hosted by NBC News journalist Kate Snow and also included youth social media advocates Emma Lembke and Zamaan Qureshi.

Torrez said seeing young adults like Lembke and fellow speaker Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of the Design It For Us campaign, which is intended to improve tech and social media with youth in mind, advocate for a safer online world.

ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze spoke with Gen Zer’s on how social media companies can improve their experiences, as states pass laws meant to protect minors on and offline.

Ahead of the 2024 election, Design It For Us — a coalition of Big Tech accountability advocates focused on making the internet safer for young people — has built an ‘AI Policy Platform’ meant to guide regulation around artificial intelligence.

Emma Lembke did not know what an algorithm was when she started using social media.

The then-12-year-old was thrilled when her parents gave her permission to join Instagram. She quickly followed all kinds of accounts — from Kim Kardashian to Olive Garden, she said — and was soon spending five to six hours a day on the app. Then one day she searched for “ab workouts,” and her feed shifted. She started seeing 200-calorie recipes, pro-anorexia posts and exercise routines that “no 12-year-old should be doing in their bedroom,” she said.

Design It For Us, a coalition advocating for safer social media and online platforms for children, praised the new law. “We hope this will bring urgency to other states to pass and adopt much needed Kids Code legislation and end Big Tech’s power over our safety and privacy,” said Zamaan Qureshi, a co-chair of the group.

Some states are looking to pass age-appropriate design laws, advocated by groups such as the youth-led coalition Design It For Us.

Zamaan Qureshi speaks during a rally organized by Accountable Tech and Design It For Us to hold social media companies accountable for protecting kids and teens online on January 31, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Design It For Us is endorsing a few bills on the federal level to improve these laws. You can view them here. One bill, the Kids Online Safety Act, is near the forefront of most minds. Some highlights include: An annual report on foreseeable risks of a given platform, disclosing specified information, not advertising certain products (such as nicotine) to young people, and allowing consumers and guardians to report certain harms.

Four of Canada’s largest school boards sue social media giants for billions, alleging the apps are disrupting learning and rewiring how children think.

Matthew Allaire is a freshman at Macalester College, a Design It For Us coalition advocate and a member of the LOG OFF movement.

In testimony for the bill, Arielle Geismar, a student at George Washington University who works with the national advocacy group Design It For Us, shared her personal experience of falling into a pit of social media posts about eating disorders that told her to starve herself. As she tried to understand what she was seeing, the platform served up more and more posts celebrating dangerous eating habits. She said the companies that design products to be as addicting as possible by using notifications to get children to open an app and endless scroll to keep them there are ruining young people’s lives.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez speaks during a rally organized by Accountable Tech and Design It For Us to hold tech and social media companies accountable for protecting teens on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Youth-led coalition Design it for Us: “The latest improvements to the Kids Online Safety Act are welcome changes that would ensure this bill cannot be weaponized to restrict civil liberties – the result of the tireless advocacy of young people desperate for change to protect our generation online.”

The advocates wearing the shirts were from Design it for Us and Young People’s Alliance. YPA’s Ava Smithing told SFGATE they wanted Zuckerberg to see the shirts and feel the impact of his platforms’ policies on young people’s mental health.

That was driven home by protesters at Wednesday’s hearing who wore T-shirts that read “I’m worth more than $270,” a reference to an internal Meta email disclosed in litigation brought by state attorneys general claiming that “the lifetime value of a [13-year-old] teen is roughly $270.” Demeaning though it sounds, this is merely standard business talk meaning that Meta assumes it will capture $270 in total for every teenage user over the course of their lives. But it shows exactly how the company views its customers.

Behind him, a group of advocates wore shirts that said “I’m worth more than $270” — a reference to a line from a Meta internal company email that said, “The lifetime value of a 13 y/o teen is roughly $270.”

One thing tech companies could do to show their goodwill, suggested Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of youth-led coalition Design It For Us, is to “get their trade organizations to back off” from lobbying against the bills. Of the witnesses, only Snap broke ranks before the hearing from peers and its own trade group NetChoice by endorsing KOSA. During the hearing, X CEO Linda Yaccarino also offered her support for the bill. Microsoft, which was not summoned to the hearing, endorsed KOSA the day before.

“Someone as powerful as her, someone as strong as her, was impacted by Big Tech’s negligence,” Arielle Geismar, a team member of Design It For Us, said at a press conference by the activist group after the hearing. “As a young woman, I am horrified by the potential this could happen to me.”

“When you’re faced with really important safety and privacy decisions, the revenue in the bottom line should not be the first factor that these companies are considering,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.”

Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of the advocacy group Design It For Us, called Zuckerberg’s apology “a pretty insane moment” during an interview with CNN. “I think it was pretty emotional for a lot of people in the room. You’re in here, you can kind of feel that tension right now. It certainly feels like there’s a tide turning in trying to get something done here.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn confronted Zuckerberg on internal Meta documents suggesting that the company estimates the lifetime value of a teen user at $270. “How could you possibly even have that thought? It is astounding to me,” Blackburn said, before recognizing a group of youth advocates in the audience and inviting them to stand.

Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee also went after Zuckerberg about an internal Meta document that placed a lifetime value to the company of a young user at $270. “How could you possibly even have that thought? It is astounding to me,” Blackburn said. She then invited members of the gallery to stand who wore T-shirts that read “I am worth more than $270.”

In her line of questioning, Senator Marsha Blackburn cited an internal email at Meta revealed as part of a lawsuit from US attorneys general that stated product teams that referred to younger users in terms of their lifetime value of being “roughly $270 per teenager”. She acknowledge teenagers in the crowd for the hearing wearing shirts that read “I’m worth more than $270,” which elicited applause from the crowd.

Youth activists from across the country attended Wednesday’s hearing, donning T-shirts reading, “I’m worth more than $270.” The shirt is a reference to a lawsuit that 41 state attorneys general brought against Meta, claiming its products are addictive for teens. An unredacted version of that lawsuit includes an internal company email that said, “The lifetime value of a 13 y/o teen is roughly $270.”

Young advocates stood in the back of the hearing room with shirts that read “I’m worth more than $270” — part of the overall outsized crowd presence at this event. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) pointed to this group as she referenced the new set of internal Meta emails she and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released. In the internal documents, Blackburn said, Meta executives described the lifetime value of teens on their services being roughy $270 each.

Profits should not be the primary concern when companies are faced with safety and privacy decisions, said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.”

Accountable Tech and Design it for Us will hold a rally outside the Capitol following the hearing. Design it for Us is more focused on the harms it says are posed by Meta, Snap and TikTok. But it added in a statement, “That certainly doesn’t excuse Discord and X.”

“We understand that they are companies and they have to make profit. But when you’re faced with really important safety and privacy decisions, the revenue in the bottom line should not be the first factor that these companies are considering,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.”

“We’ve been on this merry-go-round before, where we put forward and present new pieces of legislation, where we work with the lawmakers to make sure that it’s in the best possible place it can be, and then the lobbyists come in and try and kill it,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of youth online safety organization Design It For Us.

Qureshi is one of several young people trying to tackle the problem head on. He’s the cochair of Design It For Us, a coalition of organizations advocating for laws to make the internet and social media safer. The group has met with lawmakers including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA).

“The lawsuits serve as a good place to see where a lot of this is happening,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of the youth-led coalition Design It For Us, a digital safety advocacy group. “We have all this new information and evidence … I think the tide has turned, or the temperature has changed.”

On January 31, 2024, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing on online child sexual exploitation with CEOs from Meta, X, TikTok, Snap, and Discord. In advance of the hearing, Issue One and Tech Policy Press organized a virtual forum with a group of independent researchers, advocates, and representatives from child and online safety groups — most of them members of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media (CRSM) — to discuss potential questions for lawmakers to pose to the CEOs. 

Design It for Us, which comprises activists from 18 to 26 years old, told Axios it worked with young people in the group and outside content creators to craft submissions. The group is calling on the government to require platforms to incorporate safety into their product designs by default, address “surveillance” advertising, make platforms deprioritize algorithms that addict users, and give users control of their personal information.

Design It For Us, a youth-led organization that advocates for safer online environments, say approaches like that give companies a “free pass” and put the weight of responsibility on parents’ vigilance.

Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of the Design It for Us coalition, said the proposed rules, which are subject to a 60-day public comment period before the FTC votes on them, “will make kids and teens much safer online.”

Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition pushing for product changes and regulation of social media, said the unsealed documents show that senior Meta executives sometimes confronted the same barriers that concerned rank-and-file employees did.

Zamaan Qureshi, chair of the digital activist group Design it for Us, said: “Clegg’s comments follow a pattern at Meta where employees repeatedly flagged under-investment in well-being tools… now we know not even senior leadership could get through to Zuckerberg.”

Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition pushing for product changes and regulation of social media, said the unsealed documents show that senior Meta executives sometimes confronted the same barriers that concerned rank-and-file employees did.

They are armed with data to support why we need such laws, including the 60% surge in teen suicides and Gen Z’s rampant battle with anxiety and depression. Zamaan Qureshi, an American University senior and co-founder of Design It For Us, describes it as “a mental health emergency largely driven by the addictive design of social media.”

Youth-centered organizations, including Design It For Us and Encode Justice, recently sent a letter to Congress and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, calling to include more young people in discussions on AI governance.

Design It For Us, which describes itself as a coalition of young people taking on Big Tech, issued a statement condemning Meta for “profiting off of our safety and well-being by purposefully designing products that keep us addicted.” This, according to youth leader Thanasi Dilos, is a major contributor to the mental health epidemic among young people. They similarly condemned the social media giant for funding NetChoice rather than collaborating with advocates on legislation and guidelines.

Young people should share their perspectives with policymakers, as well, said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of youth advocacy organization Design It For Us.

“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.