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What Meta Says vs What Meta Does

The role of social media in our nation’s youth mental health crisis is getting a great deal of attention. The president and the U.S. surgeon general are both sounding the alarm, along with the American Psychological Association’s first-ever health advisory, detailing the harms social media platforms cause. And yet, students are still being exposed to addictive features and harmful content that is not being regulated or addressed when reported. We're calling on social media companies to enact commonsense changes to protect children's health, safety and privacy while using their products.

The recent report “Likes vs. Learning: The Real Cost of Social Media for Schools," by the American Federation of Teachers, ParentsTogether and other organizations, draws upon the experiences of educators, parents, students and mental health professionals, as well as the lawsuits being filed by school districts across the country. In addition to offering concrete examples of social media’s impact on schools, the report identifies specific principles companies can follow to create safer products for our children.

Let's show these companies that we are as committed to the well-being of our nation’s youth as they are to the profits their designs were created to generate.

Petition Text

To: Meta Platforms, Google and YouTube, Snap Inc., TikTok, Twitter/X

We represent parents, educators, students and mental health professionals. For years, we have witnessed how screens are stealing our children from us; how our youngest generations’ most formative years have been permanently altered by products that we, as users, have so little ability to control.

We felt powerless to demand changes for something we did not understand. But now, we are increasingly aware of how social media platforms are having a severe impact on our children’s well-being, and that there are things we can do—things you can do—to fix this problem:

  • Prioritize safety for children;
  • Protect students from overuse and addictive-like behavior;
  • Protect students’ privacy;
  • Protect students from risky algorithms; and
  • Directly engage and work with schools and families.

We have viewed your commercials where you talk about the need for regulation. Our report’s recommendations align closely to the requirements in the Kids Online Safety Act, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act and the Age-Appropriate Design Code.

We can no longer afford to wait. Our students and children are paying the price. It’s time to act. We urge you implement commonsense changes to your products, as outlined in the report “Likes vs. Learning: The Real Cost of Social Media for Schools."