CENTER FOR DIGITAL DEMOCRACY

Digital Safeguards for Children and Youth: Children are growing up tethered to social media, video entertainment, gaming and mobile platforms operated by Facebook, Google, and other powerful corporations. There is a growing body of evidence documenting how the technology industry has significantly increased risks to children's privacy; bombarded them with misinformation, hate and racist speech; exposed them to cyberbullying and sexual predation and contributed to behaviors that threaten their health and well-being. It appears that just as they do for adults, digital platforms data practices can also produce disparate outcomes for children of color and low income youth exacerbating existing disparities in racial, economic and political equity. The growing power of global big tech platforms creates an urgent need for comprehensive, coordinated, international efforts to promote greater corporate accountability and stronger government policies on behalf of children, and to ensure that safeguards are built into the foundation of emerging platforms and services. The Center is working with allies to conduct a number of efforts aimed at informing the public, the news media and policymakers, about the growing risks to young people from the unregulated digital technology industry in order to elevate the importance of this issue in the policy disclosure, place it higher on the Washington political agenda, and ultimately bring about policy change. The Center's project is focused on the following objectives: Influencing major technology companies to strengthen their internal policies and practices for protecting the privacy of children and adolescents, analyzing emerging commercial technologies and services to assess their implications for youth exposure, and engaging with civil society organizations and other stakeholders in the U.S. and elsewhere to foster consensus and collaboration on how to protect privacy and the well-being of young people in the digital environment promoting public health policies in the digital environment - The Center continues its work addressing the impact of digital media on health outcomes, including the role that marketing plays in contributing to the obesity epidemic. The Center has produced numerous reports documenting how unhealthy foods are marketed to young people through digital media and continue to operate a comprehensive research and public education initiative on that issue. We also analyze how drug companies market their products on new media platforms, assessing their impact on influencing consumer and medical professional health behaviors ensuring competition in the retail and grocery sector-We track and analyze developments related to the transformation of retail as a result of new technologies and also omnichannel marketing strategies. Our in-depth research initiative identifies the latest trends and practices, making the information available to journalists, policymakers and NGOs.