Accountable Tech

Design It For Us We’re young people taking on Big Tech.

We’ve had an incredible run here, and it wouldn’t have been possible without your support. Now, it’s up to all of us to support the next generation doing this work. Give them a follow today: designitforus.org

We know that young people will be the most successful in leading this charge. Having grown up online, they’ve got the know-how to ensure that people’s online wellbeing, safety, and privacy are prioritized over Big Tech’s profits.

The fight for a better online world is in extremely good hands. As a group developed for and by young people, Design It For Us is gathering supporters of all ages to demand more from Big Tech and design a digital future that works for all of us.

This is our last thread here at Accountable Tech. But the good news is, the fight continues with our partner, @designitforus.bsky.social – and they’re just getting started.

Design It For Us We’re young people taking on Big Tech.

You don’t have to be a young person to be part of this movement. Follow them to stay up-to-date on the latest ways to hold Big Tech accountable. designitforus.org

Design It For Us has big plans in place. They’ve created the first-ever Declaration of Digital Rights to share their vision for a safer online world.

Plus, they’re developing training programs to level up new leaders. And they’re convening young innovators to dream up alternatives to Big Tech.

Meet @designitforus.bsky.social! Our youth-led partner, fighting for a safer digital world, especially for young people. Having grown up online, they’ve got the lived experience to know just how Big Tech harms young people, and how to fix it.

Design it For Us We are young people taking on Big Tech

We’re so excited to see all that @designitforus.bsky.social will accomplish, but they’ll need your support to make it happen. Give them a follow and let’s ensure a safer digital future for all. designitforus.org

With support from people like you, we coined “surveillance advertising.” We revealed how Google was tracking and retaining abortion seekers' sensitive location data, exposed the dangers of Instagram’s “Teen Accounts,” and so much more. And this work is far from over.

We’ve been doing this long enough to know that in order to win against Big Tech, we need young people at the helm, leading the charge.

They’re an advocacy group working to ensure safer social media and online platforms for kids, teens, and young adults – and they’ve got the lived experience to do it well.

This was a big decision, and one we didn’t make lightly. We’re doing this to focus our resources on the youth-led coalition we helped support: @designitforus.bsky.social

We’ve got a big announcement: After five years of working with advocates like you to hold Big Tech accountable, we’ve made the decision to wind down operations.

Instagram adds a reposts feed and rips off Snap Maps You can now repost Reels and grid posts.

A race to the bottom if you ask us www.theverge.com/news/719756/...

AI Chatbots Can Be Manipulated to Give Suicide Advice: Study Researchers found that some LLMs’ safety guardrails can be easily bypassed.

CW: Suicide

A new study shows that jailbroken AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity still give dangerous advice on suicide and self-harm. time.com/7306661/ai-s...

Trump administration launching health tracking system with big tech’s help Initiative involving Americans’ personal data on systems run by private firms has ‘enormous concerns’, say experts

The Trump administration is pushing an initiative to track people’s health and behavior.

This is not just dystopian. It’s dangerous. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

DOGE builds AI tool to cut 50 percent of federal regulations The U.S. DOGE Service is using a new AI tool to eliminate federal regulations, aiming to cut 50 percent of rules by the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

DOGE is using an AI tool to remove and end federal regulations, “with the goal of eliminating half of Washington’s regulatory mandates by the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.” Sources say the tool is already in use. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Citing New Rules, Meta Says It Will End Political Ads in E.U.

In a rejection of EU regulations, Meta will stop distributing political or social issue ads in the region. They claim the regulations are “unworkable,” but the EU’s regulations center on controlling disinformation around elections and politics. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/b...

Meta pirated and seeded porn for years to train AI, lawsuit says Lawsuit: Meta may have seeded porn to minors while hiding piracy for AI training.

A new lawsuit alleges that Meta has been pirating copyright porn videos since 2018, potentially distributing them to minors and using them to train their AI. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Creating realistic deepfakes is getting easier than ever. Fighting back may take even more AI The use of deepfakes to impersonate high-level officials in the U.S. presents a growing security challenge.

Scammers are using AI deepfakes to impersonate Trump-era officials and CEOs, tricking diplomats, job interviewers, and executives.
apnews.com/article/arti...

Meta To Pull All Political Ads In The EU Meta has decided to stop serving political, electoral, and social advertising on its platforms in the EU, rather than be subject to upcoming regulation.

Meta is pulling all political ads in the EU starting this October.

Why? New EU transparency laws require clear disclosure around political ad spend, targeting, and funders. Instead of complying, Meta is just... opting out. www.forbes.com/sites/emmawo...

AI summaries cause ‘devastating’ drop in audiences, online news media told Exclusive: Study claims sites previously ranked first can lose 79% of traffic if results appear below Google Overview

Media organizations are losing website traffic at an alarming speed thanks to Google’s AI summaries in search. Those outlets rely on site visits for advertising dollars that support their work. Without visits, we could witness “the death of quality information online.”

Trump reveals plan to win in AI: Remove ‘red tape’ for Silicon Valley | CNN Business The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled its AI action plan, a package of initiatives and policy recommendations meant to cement the United States as a global leader in a technology that’s expec...

The Trump administration is letting Big Tech have free rein on AI development, free from what Trump is calling “foolish rules,” also known as regulations, in order to win the AI race. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/t...

Meta Unveils Wristband for Controlling Computers With Hand Gestures

SpOoKY: “this experimental technology reads the electrical signals that pulse through your muscles when you move your fingers. These signals, generated by commands sent from your brain, can reveal what you are about to do even before you do it.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/s...

Meta tops Big Tech lobbying spending as more industries shell out over AI Meta once again outspent its Big Tech counterparts in lobbying, but dropped far less cash than last quarter.

Meta is the biggest Big Tech lobbying spender, shelling out almost $6M in the past quarter. They’re trying to influence policy around: misinformation, “AI, kids' online safety, and more.” www.axios.com/pro/tech-pol...

People's AI Action Plan

That’s why we’ve joined @eff.org @accountabletech.bsky.social @peoplestechproject.bsky.social and other civil society organizations in demanding an AI Action plan to provide relief from tech oligarchies 👇 Sign + share!

peoplesaiaction.com

Elon Musk’s AI Praised Hitler. Now He Wants It to Teach Your Kids It's his most audacious pivot yet: Can an AI known for chaos and conspiracy be trusted to educate the next generation?

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok praised Hitler. Now he wants it to teach your kids.

After a wave of antisemitic and extremist responses, Musk announced “Baby Grok”—a child-friendly version of the same bot. gizmodo.com/elon-musks-a...

Grok AI deepfakes used to target women in growing image abuse trend Grok AI is being used to create porn-like deepfakes of women, including feminist X user Evie.

Grok AI was used to generate non-consensual sexual deepfakes of women like Evie, a Twitch streamer who spoke out after being targeted.

This isn’t just tech gone wrong, it’s image-based sexual abuse. www.usatoday.com/videos/life/...

People's AI Action Plan

An AI action plan written by and for tech billionaires cannot and will not serve the interests of the broader public. We cannot let Big Tech special interests buy Washington and write the rules for AI and our economy. That's why we need a People’s AI Action Plan. peoplesaiaction.com

Altman plans D.C. push to "democratize" AI economic benefits Altman wants to continue driving debate over the effect AI will have on jobs.

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, wants to “democratize” AI’s “benefits” by “getting them into the hands of people to do stuff), not concentrating them in the hands of the few." www.axios.com/2025/07/21/s...