Illinois lawmakers unanimously passed the Children’s Online Social Media Safety Act! This is a landmark bill and will create safer social media for young people in Illinois. We’re proud to have worked alongside @govpritzker.illinois.gov, @gonggershowitz.bsky.social, and Senator Preston.

We sent a letter from 100 young Californians to @tedlieu.bsky.social urging him to reject any efforts to add AI preemption to his bill. AI preemption would nullify strong state laws that we've fought for across the country and in CA. punchbowl.news/article/tech...

Tech: Lieu faces increased AI preemption pressure

Some California residents and outside groups are upping the pressure on Rep. Ted Lieu to lock in his latest bipartisan bill on artificial intelligence so it doesn’t get snagged in House GOP efforts to...

punchbowl.news

@blackskyweb.xyz is among the inaugural cohort of @designitforus.bsky.social Innovators! As a community of founders and builders we share the belief that safety, privacy, and human well-being aren't tradeoffs. In fact, they're what make great products. Read more: designitforus.org/campaigns/in...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on Congress to enact federal regulations on social media companies and emphasized a need for greater accountability from those companies at a summit on tech accountability in East Lansing on Tuesday. From @kdailey.bsky.social

Whitmer calls for social media companies’ accountability, federal regulation at ‘Hard Reset’ summit • Michigan Advance

Whitmer calls for social media companies’ accountability, federal regulation at ‘Hard Reset’ summit

michiganadvance.com

“The collateral damage has a face. The harms are no longer abstract.” We shouldn’t look away from the landmark social addiction trial just yet. Citizen’s stalwart @zamaan.bsky.social for @thenerve.news 👇

Big Tech tried to get young people addicted. Now we’re fighting back

Two seismic court decisions in the US have intervened where legislators have failed to defend social media users from exploitation, writes campaigner Zamaan Qureshi

thenerve.news

As we write in The Guardian this morning, the Commission’s plan to gut EU digital rules will hurt Europe’s startups and give U.S. tech an unassailable advantage, confirming Europe as a digital vassal. Piece by George Riekeles and I. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The EU has let US tech giants run riot. Diluting our data law will only entrench their power | Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles

The GDPR is Europe’s defence against digital oligarchy and child harm. Deregulation plans are misguided, say Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles

theguardian.com

"Europe is hurtling toward digital vassalage. Under Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, EU laws to tackle tech giants have been either not applied or delayed, for fear of offending Donald Trump." - @johnnyryan.bsky.social and Georg Riekeles

The EU has let US tech giants run riot. Diluting our data law will only entrench their power | Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles

The GDPR is Europe’s defence against digital oligarchy and child harm. Deregulation plans are misguided, say Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles

theguardian.com

Scams undermine democracies and free enterprise by eroding general mutual trust. Meta’s business model incentivizes people to financially exploit each other.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 9mo ago

(Reuters) - Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue – or $16 billion – from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show. $META @reuters.com www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Tech companies often use statistics about the prevalence of content on their sites to make things seem small. This article is a good reminder that a small % can still be a helluvalot techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/o...

OpenAI says over a million people talk to ChatGPT about suicide weekly | TechCrunch

OpenAI released data on just how many of ChatGPT's users are facing mental health challenges, and how its addressing them.

techcrunch.com

A German teen told Meta's child safety researchers his under-10 little brother had been sexually propositioned multiple times on its VR platform. Meta deleted the evidence. New internal whistleblower docs indicate that was part of a broader cover-up: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Meta suppressed research on child safety, employees say

The company’s lawyers intervened to shape research that might have shed light on risks in virtual reality, four current and former staffers have told Congress. Meta denies the allegations.

washingtonpost.com

The end of an era. Proud of the work we did together at Accountable Tech and thankful to get to work with such talented, dedicated team. We always punched above our weight. Onwards. Full @designitforus.bsky.social!

Accountable Tech@accountabletech.bsky.social · 12mo ago

We’ve got a big announcement: After five years of working with advocates like you to hold Big Tech accountable, we’ve made the decision to wind down operations.

Reuters/@jeffhorwitz.bsky.social with an alarming story about the risks of unchecked artificial intelligence. One Meta chatbot led Thongbue Wongbandue to his death because Mark Zuckerberg worried his chatbots are "boring" and directed Meta to make them "romantic or sensual," even to kids.

A flirty Meta AI bot invited a retiree to meet. He never made it home.

Impaired by a stroke, a man fell for a Meta chatbot originally created with Kendall Jenner. His death spotlights Meta’s AI rules, which let bots tell falsehoods.

reuters.com

New: I wrote about just how close the AI lobby got to its dream scenario of total deregulation, the unlikely bedfellows that mobilized against it, and the dramatic final 48 hours in which it all came together and then all fell apart. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

How tech’s bold bid to curb AI laws fell apart

A GOP-led effort to stop states from regulating AI collapsed after a deal fell through, handing Silicon Valley a painful defeat.

washingtonpost.com

HERE’S WHERE WE ARE WITH THE AI MORATORIUM: They put the amendment in. They took the amendment out. They put the amendment in and they shook it all about. They did the Hokey Pokey and they turned themselves around. That’s what the Senate’s all about.

Last night, Republicans agreed to a so-called compromise on the AI moratorium. Don’t be fooled: This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and it will devastate state attempts to protect children online. That’s why I filed an amendment with @cantwell.senate.gov to strip this provision

🚨 The new AI moratorium language risks torpedoing state lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, Snap, as well as families trying cases because their children died due to social media. The moratorium is the BIGGEST gift to Big Tech. It must be stopped.

Once again, Mark Zuckerberg's proxy, Netchoice, misrepresents the popular Age-Appropriate Design Codes that have become law in four states and have been introduced in a dozen more. A good reminder of what side Big Tech is on, and it's not the side of young people.

Vermont lawmakers sponsored the Vermont Kids Code to stand up to Big Tech. It would require Big Tech monopolies to implement design and privacy settings that protect kids. These lawmakers know Big Tech is working in the shadows to stop it. Read their powerful letter: vtdigger.org/2025/06/01/v...

Opinion — Vermont state legislators: Big Tech doesn’t want you to know what’s happening to your kids online. We do.

Every day we delay, more kids are being hurt.

vtdigger.org

New from me: 260 state lawmakers from both parties and all 50 states have sent a letter calling on Congress to drop a proposed 10-year-moratorium on state-level AI regulations. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Analysis | State lawmakers to Congress: Don’t stop us from regulating AI

Bipartisan letter decries 10-year moratorium on AI laws as ‘overreach’ as Senate takes up Trump’s big bill

washingtonpost.com

PRESS RELEASE: Accountable Tech Statement on the Vermont Legislature’s Passage of the Age Appropriate Design Code accountabletech.org/statements/a...

Thanks @jonfavs.bsky.social and @max-fisher.bsky.social for highlighting our research that @accountabletech.bsky.social and @designitforus.bsky.social did on Instagram Teen Accounts! You can check out the full research here: accountabletech.org/research/sca...

Huge 🙌 A federal judge ruled this morning against CharacterAI, denying their motion to dismiss and indicating the case can move forward. This is a major win for the Garcia family and accountability over CharacterAI/Google. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Zamaan Qureshi@zamaan.bsky.social · last yr.

@designitforus.bsky.social is proud to support this youth-led amicus in the Garcia v. CharacterAI case. This case must be allowed to move forward

Whenever someone points out content flaws in Meta youth accounts like our report, the company has excuses – sensitive content wasn’t most of the feed, or the test didn’t depict how young people use accounts. But these flaws continue to be replicable. Come on, Meta. mashable.com/article/inst...

Instagram Teen Accounts still exposed to sexual content, investigation finds

The app's tighter controls are apparently not blocking explicit posts.

mashable.com

Thank you, Archewell Foundation, for uplifting our study on Instagram Teen Accounts. It’s important to “allow data access for independent researchers to both assist in improving the effectiveness of safeguards and ensuring enforcement of safeguards and regulations.” archewell.org/news/safety-...

Safety by Design Wins: Accountable Tech | The Archewell Foundation

This week, The Archewell Foundation is highlighting Accountable Tech who recently published a study highlighting gaps in recent protections put in place for teens on Instagram. The report focuses on i...

archewell.org

Watching the Senate cloture vote on the (highly misnamed) Genius Act and keep thinking back to a conversation I had with a Senior official in the Biden WH 4 years ago. I asked him what he thought about crypto and he said “how do you define money?” Thread:

Young people from @designitforus.bsky.social stepped up today in Manchester, Vermont, alongside community members and lawmakers in support of the Age-Appropriate Design Code currently in the Vermont Legislature. Advocates called on Governor Phil Scott to sign the bill into law when it passes!!!

'It’s time to break free': Legislators, students rally in Manchester for Age-Appropriate Design

MANCHESTER — On the damp and chilly Monday morning of May 19, at 7:30 a.m., a collection of individuals gathered on the sidewalk of the round-about by the Northshire Bookstore

benningtonbanner.com

The #FTCvsMeta trial exposes a disturbing truth: Instagram’s algorithms have facilitated predators’ access to our children. We need to be done asking and strip tax breaks until Meta prioritizes safety over profits. #ProtectOurKids #PlatformAccountability www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Column | Gen Z users and a dad tested Instagram Teen Accounts. Their feeds were shocking.

Meta promised parents it would shield teens from harmful content. Tests by young users and our tech columnist dad find it fails spectacularly in important ways.

washingtonpost.com

“What should be excruciatingly clear to any parent: Instagram’s Teen Accounts can’t be relied upon to actually shield kids. The danger they face isn’t just bad people on the internet — it’s also the app’s recommendation algorithm…”

Column | Gen Z users tested Instagram Teen Accounts; they got sex posts, body shaming

Meta promised parents it would shield teens from harmful content. Tests by young users and our tech columnist dad find it fails spectacularly in important ways.

washingtonpost.com

No surprises but good reflections from teen testers about what they think their peers should know about how algorithms shape their sense of what’s normal, and how bad the toxic recommendations and their feeds overall made them feel. So much education to do. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Column | Gen Z users and a dad tested Instagram Teen Accounts. Their feeds were shocking.

Meta promised parents it would shield teens from harmful content. Tests by young users and our tech columnist dad find it fails spectacularly in important ways.

washingtonpost.com

Shocker: Meta’s claim to keep teens safe from explicit or dangerous content on Instagram is bullshit www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Column | Gen Z users and a dad tested Instagram Teen Accounts. Their feeds were shocking.

Meta promised parents it would shield teens from harmful content. Tests by young users and our tech columnist dad find it fails spectacularly in important ways.

washingtonpost.com