
Op-eds
Project
A crosspartisan group of leaders addressing the negative mental, civic, and public health impacts of social media in America.
Social media promised to build a more interconnected, informed world. But now the harms the platforms are causing are exceeding the promise of greater improved conversation and global connectedness, and American democracy is at stake.
These harms are widespread: degraded mental health, especially for our children, growing political polarization, fragile democracies disrupted by propaganda, conspiracy theories going mainstream, and increased distrust of foundational institutions. How is this happening? The simple answer is that the 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.
In the same way that tobacco companies designed purposefully addictive products, marketed those products aggressively to teens and adults, and suppressed research about their product, today’s social media companies are obscuring the truth and preventing change.
We need to adopt significant bipartisan solutions, and that’s exactly what the Council on Responsible Social Media is all about. The Council brings together a multi-sectoral group of leaders who are focused on finding solutions to the technological harms to our kids, communities, and national security. The Council brings together Republicans and Democrats, policymakers and members of the media, impacted communities and key stakeholders to elevate a bipartisan conversation and advance impactful, achievable solutions.
As a unique and unified voice, the Council will change the national conversation around social media reform so it is focused on meaningful, achievable and bipartisan solutions. Here’s how we’ll do it:
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. In each of these efforts, we have found ourselves pushing back against the destructive influence of social media on our democracy. We have approached this work from a crosspartisan discipline, uniting Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the movement to fix our broken political system — often through high-level bodies of leaders like the ReFormers Caucus, the National Council on Election Integrity, and the Faces of Democracy campaign. Now, Issue One is applying its experience and strengths to bring attention, energy, and bipartisan problem-solving to the challenges posed by social media.
Op-eds
Press releases
By coming together across partisan lines to advance three bills, the Committee sent a clear message that Big Tech must be held accountable...
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably advanced three bills that would impose stronger, enforceable protections for children and teens online, including on social media platforms. In a statement applauding the…
Press releases
Alix Fraser comments on the need for American lawmakers to create an internationally aligned research access framework...
Social media has become a central part of most Americans’ lives. Yet, very few are given a behind the scenes look at the policies and design choices online platforms make…
Press releases
This proposal, which comes after repeated violations by Meta, offers a path forward for holding other platforms accountable for violating the data privacy of minors....
This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed blanket prohibitions that would prevent Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — from profiting from data it collects…
Press releases
The poll comes as tech companies face increasing scrutiny from legislators in Congress...
In a new national poll released today by Issue One and the Council for Responsible Social Media (CRSM), an overwhelming majority of Americans across the political spectrum hold social media…
Op-eds
Op-ed by Council for Responsible Social Media member Emma Lembke...
Op-eds
Op-ed by Council for Responsible Social Media member Kristin Bride...
Press releases
Three members of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media testified before the committee...
Today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the harms that children face in the online world featured broad bipartisan support for congressional legislative action that would protect the safety, privacy, and…
Press releases
Today, three members of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the harms that children face in the online world, and what…
Press releases
In response to tonight’s State of the Union address, during which President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass bipartisan social media reforms to protect children online and address privacy…