(Content warning: This email includes mention of suicide.)

Hi there –

The evidence just keeps piling up that social media companies like Meta – owner of Instagram and Facebook – are knowingly inflicting massive damage on the mental health of a huge number of kids and teens. They will not take any meaningful action, because addicting young users means more profits.

• Six years ago this month, Molly Russell – a teen in the UK – took her own life after social media’s algorithms continued to feed her “a stream of dark, depressing content.” Her father is still horrified by the scope of the problem and points out that “little has changed” since her death. [1] Last month, the suicide prevention charity set up in Molly’s name revealed from extensive data analysis that “young people are routinely recommended large volumes of harmful content, fed by high-risk algorithms, that … present a clear risk of exacerbating feelings of depression, hopelessness, and misery.” [2]

• A newly-unsealed complaint filed as part of a recent lawsuit from multiple states’ attorneys general documents that … “Meta Platforms deliberately engineered its social platforms to hook kids and knew – but never disclosed – it had received millions of complaints about underage users on Instagram but only disabled a fraction of those accounts.” Meta knowingly kept millions of underage users on its platforms in violation of their privacy rights. [3]

• And another newly-unsealed complaint filed against Meta in Massachusetts revealed that executives at the company, including Mark Zuckerberg, repeatedly rejected internal recommendations to make Instagram safer for kids. Zuckerberg personally turned down a proposal to hide like counts on Instagram even though internal teams found such action would be beneficial to young people’s mental health and well-being. [4]

While some states (such as California, which passed the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act last year) have taken action to address this problem, it’s obvious that broader, federal legislation is needed. In response to this crisis, Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn have re-introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) – and if our Senators hear from enough of us on this topic, this bill has a good chance of moving forward. So please send a letter to your Senators today, asking them to support the Kids Online Safety Act and urge Senate Majority Leader Schumer to bring the bill to a vote.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Already almost 50 Senators representing over 200 million Americans have co-sponsored this bi-partisan legislation. KOSA would require social media companies to allow users to turn off engagement-based algorithms and stop recommendation systems that are sending them toxic content, like disordered eating content.

It would also require platforms to prevent and mitigate cyberbullying by giving users options to restrict messages from other users and to make their profiles private. In addition, KOSA would require that platforms address the ways in which their recommendation systems promote harmful content such as suicide and suicidal behaviors.

It’s obvious that Big Tech companies like Meta will continue to dismiss, delay, deflect, and deny the real need for changes to their platforms. They will continue addicting and harming our kids – until laws are passed that force them to stop. So send a letter to your Senators TODAY and ask them to do everything in their power to protect our kids, starting with passing the KOSA legislation.

SEND YOUR LETTERS

Thanks for speaking out today,

Nicole Gill
Co-founder and Executive Director
Accountable Tech

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1. BBC News: Molly Russell: Tech firms still failing after teenager's death, says father

2. Molly Rose Foundation: New research exposes tech giants’ amplification of content promoting suicide and self-harm

3. CBS News: Lawsuit claims Meta designed Instagram, Facebook to hook kids

4. CBS News: Zuckerberg personally rejected Meta's proposals to improve teen mental health, court documents allege

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