project
Council for Responsible Social Media
A crosspartisan group of leaders addressing the negative mental, civic, and public health impacts of social media in America.
Working towards comprehensive, bipartisan solutions to address the mental, civic, and public health impacts of social media in America. Learn more about the related work of our Council for Responsible Social Media.
For a decade, Issue One has been a leading voice in the effort to build a democracy that works for everyone. We have defended our elections against disinformation and disruption, advanced a modern and effective legislative branch, and built broad coalitions to strengthen democracy in the face of rising polarization. Throughout this work, we have experienced the downstream effects of social media on our democracy, our kids, and our national security. That’s why we formed the Council for Responsible Social Media — to push back and hold Big Tech accountable. In a national poll released by Issue One and the Council for Responsible Social Media (CRSM), 8 in 10 Americans hold social media responsible for bullying, childhood mental health struggles, and the spreading of false information and conspiracy theories. Big tech companies are operating with no serious accountability or oversight, and they are putting profits above the societal harms to our kids, for our communities, and to U.S. national security.
Social media plays an important role in our world. Our goal is to ensure responsible design and operations so that these technologies can nourish — rather than erode — our society, our wellbeing, and our democracy. Issue One is applying its experience and strengths to bring attention, energy, and bipartisan problem-solving to the challenges posed by social media.
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CRSM member Kristin Bride interviewed about Big Tech CEO hearing...
Op-ed by Issue One CEO Nick Penniman...
Council for Responsible Social Media member Frances Haugen interviewed...
Op-ed by Council for Responsible Social Media Legislative Associate Jamie Neikrie...
Press releases
In response to last night’s bipartisan vote in the Senate and President Biden’s signing of the bill that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the U.S., Issue One’s…
Analysis
Meta, ByteDance, and others expanded their influence operations during the first quarter of 2024...
A new Issue One analysis of recently filed federal lobbying reports show that several social media titans poured massive sums of money into their influence operations in Washington, D.C., during…
Op-eds
Op-ed by Issue One CEO Nick Penniman...
Press releases
After decades of negotiation, the APRA marks the first time that the chairs of the two powerful commerce committees have reached an agreement on a comprehensive data privacy framework...
Issue One applauds Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for reaching a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to protect Americans’ data privacy online. The American Privacy Rights Act (APRA)…
Press releases
Today, Issue One applauded the introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in the House of Representatives, led by Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Erin Houchin (R-IN),…
Press releases
In response to today’s bipartisan vote in the House that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the U.S., Issue One’s CEO and Founder Nick Penniman issued the following…
Press releases
In response to tonight’s State of the Union address, during which President Joe Biden defended democracy and called on Congress to pass bipartisan social media reforms to protect children online,…
Press releases
This morning, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), lead sponsors of the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), released new changes strengthening the bill and announced that a…
Event Recaps
Last month leaders of the largest Big Tech companies came to Washington, D.C. once again to answer to Congress for their failures to protect children online. Following the hearing, Issue…
Event Recaps
Social media platforms are designed to maximize our attention, suck us in, and keep us hooked. They do this by keeping the public in the dark about how algorithms elevate…