Press Archives - Design It For Us

Design It For Us Names New Co-Chairs to Power the Expansion of Youth-Led Tech Reform

Sebastian Mahal and Nikki Iyer take on Co-Chair roles to advance youth power and human-centered tech reform

Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition leveraging grassroots power to disrupt Big Tech’s harmful business models, today announced Sebastian Mahal and Nikki Iyer as its new Co-Chairs. Their leadership represents significant growth for the organization as it continues to expand its reach and build lasting youth power to upend the status quo of Big Tech and fight for a better online world.

Sebastian Mahal is a youth organizer, advocate, and coalition builder working at the intersection of social media harms, emerging technology, and youth political power. Their organizing background spans movements for queer and trans safety, reproductive justice, gun violence prevention, and climate advocacy. As Co-Chair, Sebastian is focused on how these same systemic harms are reproduced on insufficiently regulated online platforms, turning widespread youth frustration with digital platforms into coordinated action for change. Sebastian holds degrees in political science and philosophy, with a specialization in digital ethics.

“Too often, young people are treated as passive test subjects of technology rather than stakeholders with real power,” said Mahal. “Design It For Us aims to change that and make sure the voices of young people most impacted by harmful tech are leading the fight for accountability, safety, and dignity online.”

Nikki Iyer is a third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley. As Co-Chair of Design It For Us, Nikki works to galvanize youth power by fostering greater balance, agency, and well-being among young people navigating an increasingly digital world. At Berkeley, Nikki organizes speaker series events that bring conversations about technology, culture, and politics to campus. Through her academics, Nikki studies how rhetoric around AI and social media influences our understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and the boundary between online and real life.

“The digital age is shaping how we think, feel, and connect—and not always for the better,” said Iyer. “Young people deserve technology that supports our humanity rather than exploits our attention. I’m excited to represent Design It For Us as we push for systems that reflect those values.”

The announcement comes during a period of significant growth for Design It For Us, as the nonprofit has expanded its coalition, built up state leadership, and increased its influence at both the state and national levels. As part of this growth, founding Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi will transition into a newly created leadership role as Director of Campaigns and Policy, where he will lead strategic advocacy efforts and spearhead the next wave of wins in all corners of the country.

With Mahal and Iyer as Co-Chairs, Design It For Us is doubling down on its commitment to youth-led leadership, intersectional advocacy, and bold solutions that challenge Big Tech’s dominance while centering human well-being.

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About Design It For Us

Design It For Us is a youth-led coalition leveraging grassroots power to disrupt Big Tech’s harmful business models. The coalition is led by a team of people between the ages of 18 and 26 and supported by an array of youth-led organizations, staff, and advisors fighting for a better online world for everyone.

Design It For Us Applauds Governor Hochul for Signing the RAISE Act

Landmark law requires safety protocols and incident reporting from the most powerful AI companies.

Design It For Us Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi released the following statement:

“We are thrilled that Governor Hochul has chosen to stand up for New York’s young people and residents by signing the RAISE Act into law. This is a critical step to protect young people and the public as powerful AI products rapidly change our lives.

“Despite Big Tech’s intense lobbying campaign, New Yorkers made their voices heard, and we applaud Governor Hochul for heading those calls. For too long, policymakers have been forced to respond to harm after it occurs. The RAISE Act changes that by establishing basic transparency and accountability for companies building the most powerful AI models, including the requirement of safety protocols, incident reporting, and enforceable oversight before damage is done. This is the first step to learning from a decade of missed warning signs with social media.

“New York goes further than California, becoming the second state in the nation to take action on this issue and the first to enact the strongest AI safety legislation in the country. New York is once again showing that states can lead where Congress has failed to act. This law sends a clear message that innovation does not have to come at the expense of safety, transparency, or young people’s futures.

“This victory was made possible by a broad coalition of youth advocates, parents, survivors, and public-interest organizations who have been sounding the alarm and pushing for real safeguards. Young people helped drive this momentum, and today, their voices were heard. We are grateful to Senator Gounardes and Assemblymember Bores for their leadership on this critical bill, and we look forward to continuing the fight for strong AI protections nationwide. ”

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Background:

Design It For Us co-led a rally and lobby day with Encode AI in June in support of the RAISE Act, which helped ensure the bill advanced out of a key committee and got a final vote. Our advocates spoke at a press conference alongside the bill leaders of the RAISE Act.
Design It For Us co-led an organizational sign-on letter with Encode AI from over 20 prominent youth online safety organizations, urging Governor Hochul to sign the RAISE Act into law.
Design It For Us Program Lead Matthew Stevens co-authored an op-ed alongside Young People’s Alliance Columbia Chapter Leader Kate Francke in the Buffalo News, urging Governor Hochul to sign the RAISE Act into law.
Design It For Us directed hundreds of emails from New Yorkers to Governor Hochul, urging her to sign the RAISE Act into law.

About Design It For Us

Design It For Us is a youth-led coalition of young people, activists, and leaders that aims to achieve policy reforms to protect kids, teens, and young adults online. The coalition is led by two Co-Chairs and a team of Program Leads between the ages of 18 and 26. The coalition is also supported by an array of youth-led organizations, staff, and advisors.

Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order Preempting State A.I. Laws

Design It For Us stands with states fighting to protect A.I. safety and accountability

Design It For Us Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi released the following statement:

“President Trump’s executive order attempting to wipe out state A.I. laws is a dangerous overreach that threatens public safety and undermines states’ rights. No president can unilaterally preempt state law — full stop. Congress has already considered and rejected this exact approach — twice. Nothing in today’s action changes that reality.

“This executive order isn’t about better policy. It’s about the administration, pushed by David Sacks and other tech industry giants, trying to secure through executive fiat what they have failed to win in Congress. Young people, parents, and consumer advocates mobilized by the thousands to defeat federal A.I. preemption because eliminating state laws would leave the public with effectively no protections. This order is an effort to blatantly sidestep that critical democratic process, regardless of the attempts it makes to carve out specific protections such as children’s safety.

“States have stepped up while the federal government has stagnated, passing bipartisan laws that require basic A.I. safety, strengthen privacy, and combat deepfakes. Today’s executive order seeks to dismantle those safeguards. We strongly support the state Attorneys General who are preparing to challenge this order in court. Design It For Us stands with every state leader pushing back against this power grab. Young people want more accountability for A.I., not a federally imposed vacuum that hands tech companies a free pass.”

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About Design It For Us

Coalition of Youth Advocates and Safety Organizations Urges Governor Hochul to Sign the RAISE Act, Following California’s Lead

As AI becomes ubiquitous, the public cannot afford another decade of secrecy, unreported harm, and unaccountable tech giants.

A coalition of leading youth advocates, public-interest groups, and technology accountability organizations released a joint letter urging Governor Kathy Hochul to sign New York’s Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act into law. The letter was organized by Design It For Us and Encode AI and joined by more than twenty organizations, including Common Sense Media, Common Cause, ParentsTogether Action, Rights4Girls, SAVE, #HalfTheStory, and the Sexual Violence Prevention Association.

New York is facing a pivotal moment. “Fifteen years ago, policymakers missed the warning signs with social media, and an entire generation is still paying the price,” the organizations write. “As AI becomes embedded into the services young people use, we have a narrow window to put real safeguards in place.”

The RAISE Act establishes basic transparency and safety requirements for the largest AI developers, including publishing safety and security protocols, reporting serious safety incidents to the Attorney General, and enabling enforcement through existing state authorities. The bill closely follows—and in key ways strengthens—the landmark AI safety framework California signed into law earlier this year.

The RAISE Act would introduce three core transparency requirements for the companies spending hundreds of millions of dollars to train foundation models:

Publishing and following safety and security protocols that address catastrophic risks such as biological weapon development or automated criminal activity;
Reporting serious safety incidents to the Attorney General so policymakers and the public are not kept in the dark;
Enabling enforcement through the Attorney General without creating a new state agency.

“California showed that states can lead on AI safety,” said Zamaan Qureshi, Co-Chair of Design It For Us. “Now New York can go even further by requiring real transparency from the companies building the most powerful AI systems. Young people deserve a future where AI safety isn’t an afterthought.”

“After a decade of Congressional inaction on social media, Governor Hochul led the way in protecting young people online with legislation like the SAFE4KIDS Act,” said Adam Billen, VP of Public Policy at Encode AI. “Now, with the RAISE Act, she has the chance to get ahead of serious risks from AI instead of waiting until they’re already here.”

The full letter and list of signatories are included here.

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About Design It For Us

Design It For Us Responds to New House COPPA 2.0 Language: “This Bill Fails Young People.”

House Energy & Commerce Committee’s language of COPPA 2.0 (introduced as H.R. 6291) contains disastrous, vague preemption, and a weakened knowledge standard.

Design It For Us Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi released the following statement:

“We are deeply disappointed by the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) language recently introduced by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Young people have spent years pushing for meaningful online protections, including advocating for COPPA 2.0 alongside Sens. Markey and Cassidy and Reps. Castor and Walberg, but H.R. 6291 is far from what this crisis demands. In fact, it sets us backwards.

We’ve supported modernizing and updating COPPA; however, this version is toothless. Instead of strengthening safeguards for young people, the bill’s structure undermines the protections we have fought for.

Most concerning:

The bill’s preemption language could wipe out strong state-level protections and nullify any state law “relating to” COPPA’s provisions. This would include the Age-Appropriate Design Codes (AADC) we have advocated for in Maryland, Nebraska, Vermont, and California. Stripping states of the ability to protect young people is unacceptable.
The bill’s weakened knowledge standard allows companies to disregard the very children using their products, failing to guarantee them safe experiences. This lets companies escape accountability while young users remain exposed in unsafe online spaces.
This most recent version does not reflect the needs, experiences, or demands of young people, and it abandons the progress made in earlier bipartisan efforts to protect minors online.

“We urge members of Congress to restore the stronger Senate COPPA 2.0 language, which better protects young people online in navigating digital spaces. Design It For Us will continue to fight for laws that center young voices and deliver real, enforceable protections. We are not going to accept industry carve-outs disguised as reform. Young people deserve better, so Congress must do better.”

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About Design It For Us

Statement from Design It For Us on the Meta Antitrust Decision

Design It For Us Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi released the following statement:

“Design It For Us is deeply disappointed that Chief Judge Boasberg’s ruling today excused Meta’s anticompetitive takeover of Instagram and WhatsApp. This decision bolsters Meta’s power even after it has repeatedly shown it will put profit over young people’s safety, well-being, and ability to shape the digital world they grow up in.

“For years, Meta has bought its way out of fair competition, absorbing platforms that young people rely on and tightening its grip on digital spaces. Pretending the acquisition at the center of this ruling isn’t monopoly power ignores reality. This ruling gives Meta a free pass at the exact moment when regulators should be stepping up. It rewards a system where tech giants can pick off emerging platforms rather than compete with them. This means that young people have fewer choices, fewer safeguards, and fewer online spaces built with their needs in mind.

“Like the Google search remedies ruling by a California judge, Judge Boasberg has missed a legitimate opportunity to hold Meta accountable for its antitrust violations. Now, markets will be less competitive, allowing Meta’s monopolistic conduct to continue. While we believe regulators have ample authority under existing antitrust law to take on monopoly power, the case could not be clearer for Congressional action to update and improve our antitrust laws to regulate digital markets. That is why Design It For Us has endorsed bills like the Open App Markets Act and the App Store Freedom Act because they claw back power from these digital goliaths for our generation.”

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About Design It For Us

Design It For Us Responds to Instagram’s Latest Announcement on Teen Safety: New Label, Lower Standards

Just last week, Design It For Us, in partnership with the HEAT Initiative and Parents Together Action, released damning new research that revealed the continued failure of Meta’s teen accounts to protect young users from harm. Our polling exposed how teens are still regularly exposed to content promoting suicide, eating disorders, drug paraphernalia, sexually explicit material, and violent content. We also found that adults could still message young users and were frequently funneled toward inappropriate or unsafe accounts.

This follows evidence we released in May 2025, finding that Meta’s teen accounts did not always uphold their own policy standards on teen accounts. In fact, our testing revealed that 5 out of 5 of our test Teen Accounts were algorithmically recommended sensitive content, despite Meta’s default sensitive content controls being enabled. In response, Meta dismissed our concerns, generalizing this type of evidence as “‘unobjectionable” or consistent with “humor from a PG-13 film.”

Now, Instagram is making that dismissal their official policy. They’ve announced Teen Account standards will align with “PG-13 movie ratings”— a warning cautioning that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Compared to the protections Teen Accounts were meant to provide for users ages 13 to 17, the PG-13 framing itself is a downgrade. Meta’s Teen Accounts protections for users as young as 13 were intended to be the minimum level of protection, not the maximum. Now, Meta is codifying inadequate protections as the upper limit of what young users can expect.

Let’s be clear: Meta is not fixing the problem; they’re rebranding it. Instead of releasing data that shows how their product actually works for teens, Meta offers PR stunts and superficial tweaks— parent focus groups, vague content labels, and now movie ratings as policy. Even the makers of the ratings have distanced themselves from Meta after this development.

“These platforms are designed to maximize engagement at all costs because that’s what drives profit. As long as that’s the foundation, safety will always be an afterthought – no matter how many performative measures they announce,” said Kendall Schrohe, Campaigns Lead at Design It For Us. “Meta is not interested in protecting teens. They’re interested in protecting their business model.”

Our work continues to lead this conversation, not just exposing the harm, but forcing the world’s biggest social media company to respond until meaningful change is made.

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Design It For Us has been driving the fight to hold Big Tech companies like Meta accountable:

In April 2025, Design It For Us joined Parents Together and the Heat Initiative to host a rally at Meta’s headquarters in New York City. We delivered a petition of more than 10,000 signatures of young people and parents demanding meaningful accountability from Meta and Mark Zuckerberg.
Design It For Us partnered with Accountable Tech in May 2025 to release a test of the efficacy of Meta’s Teen Accounts’ protections. In the test, youth volunteers from the coalition created test accounts and recorded their experiences using Teen Accounts over the course of two weeks. Our test accounts found that Meta’s policies did not always work, including that:
- 5 out of 5 of our test Teen Accounts were algorithmically recommended sensitive content, despite Meta’s default sensitive content controls being enabled.
- 5 out of 5 of our test Teen Accounts were algorithmically recommended sexual content.
On the 1-year anniversary of the rollout of Teen Accounts this past September, DIFU advocate Alia ElKattan stood alongside Meta whistleblowers and parents in a press conference to call out Meta’s persistent refusal to be transparent and accountable to its users.
This month, Design It For Us collaborated again with Heat Initiative and Parents Together to release a study finding that Meta’s Teen Accounts were still failing to stem safety concerns for teens.
- Nearly 60% of the kids who received unwanted messages said they came from users they believe to be adults.
- Nearly 40% of kids who got unwanted messages said they came from someone who wanted to start a sexual or romantic relationship with them.

Design It For Us Launches New State Leadership Initiative, Endorsing CA SB 53 Straight Out of the Gate

Berkeley, California — Design It For Us is piloting a new State Leadership Initiative to build grassroots power and push for safety by design, privacy by default, and agency over our online lives. While federal policy is a critical tool for achieving these goals, policy isn’t just made in Washington, D.C. There’s real movement in states across the country, and young people are committed to leading these conversations where the action is.

DIFU’s foundations are rooted in state organizing. Our youth-led movement has already driven wins like the signing of the Vermont Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC) and the Maryland Kids Code, major endorsements and momentum for the SAFE for All Act in New York. The State Leadership Initiative doubles down on this success. By formally elevating youth leaders to champion state-level change, we’re putting boots on the ground where change is happening, creating sustainable impact, and ensuring that young people are positioned throughout the country to lead, innovate, and deliver for all future generations.

We’re kicking off by returning to California, where the legislative session is still buzzing with opportunity. Design It For Us was founded upon the namesake campaign that drove the fight to pass the landmark California AADC, and has driven vital progress across the country since. With its history as a frontier of technology oversight, we’re thrilled to launch this Initiative in the Golden State and introduce Vinaya Sivakumar as our very first State Lead.

“Young people aren’t just the future; we’re living with the consequences of today’s technology design right now,” said Vinaya Sivakumar, DIFU State Lead, California. “Social media platforms and AI products are evolving at a breakneck pace, and without strong guardrails, the harms will reach us before the benefits do. This initiative gives us the chance to set those protections in place now to make sure emerging technology is transparent and safe, and I’m excited to see the real, lasting change we can make in California.”

One of our first steps in California will be supporting SB 53, a bill designed to advance transparency and safety standards in frontier AI development. While SB 53 is just one piece of the puzzle, it reflects our core mission to ensure technology is developed with the interests of young people in mind.

“Social media taught us what happens when Big Tech’s interests outpace accountability and we feel those consequences every day,” said Zamaan Qureshi, Co-Chair of Design It For Us. “We can’t afford to repeat that mistake with AI. SB 53 is our opportunity to insist on transparency, safety checks, and public oversight before the damage is done, and young people are ready to lead that fight in California.”

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About Design It For Us

Design It For Us is a youth-led coalition of young people, activists, and leaders that aims to achieve policy reforms to protect kids, teens, and young adults online. The coalition is led by two Co-Chairs and a team of Organizing Directors between the ages of 18 and 26. The coalition is also supported by an array of youth-led organizations and advisors.

Design It For Us Statement on Senate’s Rejection of AI Moratorium

Today, the Senate made the right call by stripping the dangerous AI moratorium from the federal budget bill by a major 99-1 vote margin—and it’s a win for the entire country.

Design It For Us Co-Chair Zamaan Qureshi issued the following statement:

“This disastrous provision was never about protecting people. It was about yet another attempt by tech companies to evade accountability for their harmful impact. This provision would have blocked states from passing the kinds of social media and AI safeguards young people have been fighting for: laws that tackle algorithmic harm, invasive surveillance, privacy, and the unchecked power of platforms shaping our mental health, education, and futures.

This is a major win for digital safety advocates who came together to stop this, and we are glad to see the Senate respond to our pressure. From the outset, this moratorium was an attack on a nationwide movement demanding safer, more ethical tech. It would have silenced state efforts for a decade to do what is right for their communities and handed Big Tech a free pass to continue exploiting AI without rules. Instead, the Senate listened to our calls, our messages, and our momentum.

But this fight isn’t over. The House must not revive this failed and unpopular idea in the budget bill or any other legislative attempt. We deserve a future where AI works for us, not against us. And we’re not backing down. As young people continue leading the charge for digital safeguards in statehouses and communities nationwide, Washington needs to catch up, not stand in the way. The future of tech is being shaped right now, and youth voices are front and center.”

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Design It For Us Applauds Signing of the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code into Law

Vermont’s leadership marks a substantial step toward protecting young people online.

Design It For Us Co-chair Zamaan Qureshi issued the following statement as the bipartisan Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code becomes law:

“We applaud the Vermont General Assembly for working to protect young people from online harms, and we’re thrilled to see the Governor sign the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code into law. We thank Rep. Monique Priestley and the bill’s sponsors for their tireless leadership, work, and partnership in making this bill become law. We are proud of the young Vermonters who told their stories and took on Big Tech, most especially Kaitlynn Cherry and Jonathan Pickarski, who led the way for young Vermonters across the state, testifying and rallying, to help this bill become law.

“This victory is especially meaningful because just last year, this very bill was vetoed by the Governor. Today’s signature reflects the growing momentum and undeniable power of young people and families demanding safer, healthier online spaces. This is the kind of leadership that brings technology into the future in a sustainable way, supporting the well-being and livelihoods of young people for generations to come. We are proud and excited to see Vermont stand up for our future.”

Design It For Us first started as a campaign effort to pass the California Age-Appropriate Design Code in 2022 and has since become a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media and online platforms for kids, teens, and young adults. Our movement continues to gain momentum, thanks to the tireless work of advocates and our elected leaders who are willing to boldly stand up against Big Tech. Design It For Us advocates met with lawmakers, hosted a rally, and testified before the Vermont General Assembly to support the unanimous and bipartisan passage of the Vermont AADC.”

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