Accountable Tech on White House Report to Address Online Youth Safety

Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill issued the following statement on the release of the Biden administration’s interagency task force report to protect the online safety and privacy of children and young people:

“This generation of young people have been subjected to the most insidious and dark aspects of Big Tech and social media thanks to addictive, profit-driven algorithms designed to keep them scrolling. Thus far, we have seen reams of evidence illustrating its harms and whistleblowers sounding the alarm on Big Tech’s complicity and refusal to address these known consequences. And yet, legislation to hold tech accountable, like KOSA and COPPA 2.0, has stalled in Congress, and similar laws enacted in states are being challenged legally by the Big Tech lobby. We welcome the administration’s efforts to provide interagency recommendations that challenge the tech industry to prioritize the health, safety, and privacy of young people, and we urge tech companies to swiftly implement the report’s recommendations – many of which are already in place in other jurisdictions – before further generations of children become victims of Big Tech’s greed.”

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Statements

Aug 28, 2024

Accountable Tech Statement on Advancement of California’s Landmark AI Safety Bill

Today, the California General Assembly passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047) — a landmark bill that would require AI developers to adhere to common sense safety guidelines for new AI models. The legislation, which is sponsored by California State Senator Scott Wiener, would introduce crucial guardrails around AI development, including requiring pre-deployment safety testing and third-party auditing. The bill will head back to the State Senate for a confirmation vote and then to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Statements

Aug 16, 2024

Accountable Tech on Appeals Court Ruling on the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement on the Ninth Circuit Court’s narrowing of the district court’s injunction blocking California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code: The Ninth Circuit’s ruling makes clear that the lower court’s injunction was far too broad. The district court must now reconsider the safety-by-design and privacy-by-default protections central to the Age-Appropriate Design Code.