Testimony

Written Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee: Protecting Our Children Online

Feb 2023 🇺🇸 U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

On February 14, 2023, Emma Lembke, founder of the LOG OFF Movement, delivered written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on protecting children online. She described creating an Instagram account at age 12 and said that as her time on the platform grew she experienced worsening anxiety, depression, and disordered eating, which she links to constant social comparison and exposure to unrealistic body-image content. She cited outside data — Pew Research figures on rising 'almost constant' teen social media use and Meta's own 2019 internal research on teen body image — to argue her experience reflects a wider generational pattern, and described hearing from other young people about cyberbullying and unwanted contact through her organizing work. She urged senators to regulate platform design with young people's input rather than only on their behalf. TechKids Foundation cites this as a primary-source youth account entered into the congressional record.

24% to 45%

Testimony cites Pew Research Center data showing the share of US teens online 'almost constantly' nearly doubled between 2015 and 2018.

81%

Testimony cites a linked 2020 survey finding that 81% of 14- to 22-year-olds said they used social media either daily or 'almost constantly.'

About 1 in 3

Testimony references Facebook's own 2019 internal research, which the company disclosed, finding platform use was associated with worsened body-image issues for roughly one in three teen girls.

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CITATION

Lembke, Emma. Written Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary: "Protecting Our Children Online." February 14, 2023.

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