Youth Activist Emma Lembke to Testify on Online Harms Before Senate Judiciary Committee

For Immediate Release
February 13, 2023
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

Accountable Tech Partnered with Lembke’s Youth Advocacy Groups to Launch ‘Design It For Us’ Campaign, Pass California Age-Appropriate Design Code

Tomorrow, youth activist Emma Lembke – a former Accountable Tech intern who continues to work closely with the organization – will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Big Tech’s ongoing exploitation of our children for profit.

Lembke, a sophomore at Washington University, founded the youth-led LOG OFF Movement and partnered with Accountable Tech last year to help pass the landmark California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, and launch ‘Design It For Us’ – an innovative multimedia effort for young people to share why online spaces should be designed with them in mind.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Lembke will continue to use her lived experience to underscore Big Tech’s harms and advocate for digital rules of the road that require companies to prioritize kids’ and teens’ wellbeing over their own bottom line. As she says in her prepared testimony:

“While our stories may differ, as young people we share the frustration of being portrayed as passive victims of Big Tech when in reality, we are ready to be included as active agents of change; rebuilding new, and safer online space for the next generation.”

***Watch the Hearing HERE at 10am ET on Tuesday, Feb. 14***

Additional Background:

Check out Emma’s recent appearances on 60 Minutes, Offline with Jon Favreau, and in the New York Times discussing the fight to protect young people online.

Watch the youth roundtable Accountable Tech hosted last year on social media’s mental health impacts, featuring Emma, other young activists, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Learn more about the first-of-its-kind law passed unanimously in California last year, which will require tech companies to prioritize young people’s wellbeing before their own bottom line. Accountable Tech is working with Lembke’s youth-led advocacy groups and other national partners to advance similar legislation in multiple other states this cycle.

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