• by Steven Rosenbaum , Featured Contributor, February 3, 2025

Last week, I witnessed a watershed moment in the fight for digital rights as the young leaders of Design It For Us gathered virtually to unveil their Declaration of Digital Rights. Their message was clear and powerful: "We are a generation that has grown up almost entirely online, and we've been addicted, manipulated, and taken advantage of by Big Tech. Enough is enough."

The story they tell is intimately familiar to their generation. It begins in middle school with first smartphones and social media accounts, where platforms like Snapchat and Instagram promised connection and community. But as one speaker powerfully noted, "Ask most young people, and it's likely we'll have something to say about our negative experiences with social media."

The statistics they presented are stark: Youth mental health is at an all-time low while social media usage peaks at historic highs. The coalition points to a devastating array of consequences: addiction, scams, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sextortion, and suicide – all "heightened and maintained by Big Tech's addictive algorithms."

What makes this declaration different is its authenticity. As co-chair of Design It For Us Zamaan Qureshi explained, "For too long, we've heard from parents, innovators, and executives who will tell you what they think is best for young people. But we deserve to shape our digital future."

From their extensive coast-to-coast campus tour in fall 2024, engaging with peers and experts including Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and Meta whistleblowers Frances Haugen and Arturo Bejar, the coalition has developed a comprehensive Digital Bill of Rights with 12 fundamental principles. Here's a look at six key rights that highlight the declaration's scope:

1. Right to Privacy: Young users demand control over their personal data, insisting that privacy must come before profit. The declaration challenges platforms that collect "endless amounts of data" and sell it to the highest bidder.
2. Right to Not Be Experimented On: A forceful rejection of tech companies' practice of using young users as "guinea pigs" for new features without informed consent.
3. Right to Agency: While acknowledging social media's power to connect globally, users demand meaningful control over their digital lives to "minimize the bad and maximize the good."
4. Right to Delete: Users assert their fundamental right to permanently remove their content and information from platforms that no longer serve them.
5. Right to Connect Without Exploitation: The declaration defends the value of online community while rejecting a model where meaningful relationships come bundled with targeted ads and harmful comparison content.
6. Right to Protection from Manipulation: In perhaps its most powerful demand, users insist on protection from "insidious patterns of abuse" where innovation is weaponized against user wellbeing.

Read all 12 rights and the complete Declaration of Digital Rights here.

"We're here to chart a path for what many young people want and deserve as we navigate the bright benefits and dark corners of our ever-evolving digital ecosystem," said Arielle Geismar, co-chair of Design It For Us. Their approach isn't just idealistic -- it's grounded in extensive research and hundreds of individual responses from peers across the country.

Since launching in March 2023, the coalition has successfully advanced policies at local, state, and federal levels. Its declaration builds on policy platforms released for social media in 2023 and expanded in 2024 to address AI's growing impact.

For those of us watching this movement unfold, one thing is clear: These young leaders aren't just asking for change -- they're demanding it, with a sophisticated understanding of both technology and policy. As one participant put it, "We're taking on Big Tech. This is a mission to define the narrative of a generation."