Another whistleblower testified in the US Congress this week with more shocking claims that Meta has continued to dismiss internal evidence of the harm its platforms are doing to teens. It’s a timely revelation: After years of inertia, the US Senate may soon pass legislation that could change the way kids engage with social media. A wide-ranging coalition that includes Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has been growing in support of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would give children and parents the power to opt out of social media algorithms that push content on suicide, disordered eating and other painful topics.
Encouraged by President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on AI, in which he exhorted Congress “to protect all Americans, especially kids,” KOSA sponsors in the Senate are scrambling to schedule a floor vote before the next Congress break, according to legislative aides. They are also lining up a companion bill. Sure, this may turn out to be just another failed attempt to crack down on Big Tech firms that have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying against regulation.
Yet something critical has shifted: Youth activists have taken on a major role, and they mean business. Gradually and quietly, the constituency that serves as the engine of social media, Gen Z, is becoming the industry’s greatest threat. In the past year, these young activists have been testifying in congressional hearings, advising White House officials and meeting relentlessly with legislative aides. They pushed KOSA’s co-sponsor, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to clarify the bill’s language to limit parental surveillance and contain the potential impact on LGBTQ+ youth, for whom social media can be a self-discovery tool. They’ve also worked with California legislators on the Age Appropriate Design Code Act, which became law last year. Gen Z has supported similar proposals in North Carolina and other states.
These leaders have established a constellation of non-profits. They’re drawing important connections between youth safety online and the larger movement to regulate data privacy and artificial intelligence on the grounds that AI algorithms make social media addictive. The portfolio of federal policies they advocate goes well beyond KOSA to include The Kids Privacy Act, an expanded version of the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, and the AI Labeling Act. And 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.”
Many activists see themselves as Davids battling a Goliath. Emma Lembke, a junior at Washington University who co-founded Design It For Us, told me that teens will win against Big Tech not just because of their political acumen but because “we’re relentless and driven by powerful personal stories.” That they are. “I had an eating disorder for 12 years, and Instagram fed me dieting advice and a steady dose of self-loathing every day,” Ava Smithing, an activist with Young People’s Alliance, told me. YPA founder Sam Hiner added: “I saw my friends getting more depressed and addicted to social media until I realized that Big Tech was our generation’s Big Pharma, but with no FDA.” Larissa May, founder of Half the Story, put it in starker terms: “For years when I struggled with suicidal thoughts, I was getting a daily feed of content on depression and suicide to the point where I either had to act or die.”
What’s most surprising about the youth strategy is not so much their personal passion as their pragmatism: Lembke emphasized that activists don’t want to take down Big Tech but push the industry to evolve: “We’re not trying to put the genie back in the bottle.” Instead, they “want to engage with social media and AI in a just and humane way.” Sneha Revanur, founder of Encode Justice and a sophomore at Williams College, emphasized the importance of cooperation, especially on legislation such as KOSA, which has flaws: “Politics requires compromise. This is just a starting point.” The onus is now on House leaders.
We should be listening to these voices, not just policymakers but technology executives and investors. Every young activist I spoke with said that industry leaders have failed to invite them to the conversation. Big Tech leaders will suffer for it. Having alienated Gen Z activists, [they’ve multiplied the risk to their companies]. Now, if for no other reason than to create certainty and sustainability for their industry, they should take a cue from kids and accept that it’s time to grow up. ©bloomberg
