Tech(nically) Politics is a student organization created by Washington University in St Louis and Brown University students that encourages young people to speak out on issues with social media and technology companies and advocate for regulations to combat those issues. 1 It post videos with students criticizing social media companies and advocating for regulations. It also solicits people to support the videos on social media as well as advocate for undescribed regulations themselves. 2
Alongside LOG OFF, Tech(nically) Politics launched the #DesignItForUs campaign. The campaign supported California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act which requires qualifying websites to censor content based on whether it could be accessed by children. 3 4
Background
Tech(nically) Politics was founded in 2021 by college students Aliza Kopans and Emma Lembke to lobby for regulations on social media companies as student organizations. It is also a partner of Center for Human Technology. 5 6 7 It posts videos of young people being interviewed about how they may be harmed by access to social media and what regulations they think should be placed on social media companies. 8
Tech(nically) Politics states that it campaigns by promoting testimony of its interviewees and promotes regulations in contempt of social media companies’ abilities to profit from features for being allegedly harmful to users. It advocates for regulations to restrict what its interviewees claim are harmful. 9
Tech(nically) Politics solicits viewers of its interviews to promote the interviews and advocate for regulations on social media companies. It provides templates for people on how they can word posts that share the interviews. The templates encourage people to describe regulations and restrictions they want to see imposed on social media companies and to contact policymakers directly. 10
Docuseries
In 2022, Tech(nically) Politics released a docuseries titled “The Youth Voice” on YouTube led by co-founder Aliza Kopans which consisted of interviews with college students regarding their negative experiences with social media. In the interviews, Kopans also asks interviewees what regulations they would like to be implemented for technology and social media companies based on how they have personally had issues with certain websites and applications. 11
Interviewees in The Youth Voice’s videos are critical of how people, especially girls, experience mental health issues due to “comparison culture” amongst other dynamics. Another complaint is that terms of service agreements are what is described as too long and complicated for users to understand. In response to the complaints, interviewees advocate for regulatory oversight to intervene on such problems. 12 13
Leadership
Aliza Kopans is a co-founder and video campaign director of Tech(nically) Politics. Kopans is also a Digital Wellness Youth Activist for Fairplay’s Advisory Network and Lookup.Live’s Teen Leadership Council. She previously was a youth advisory board member for Center for Humane Technology. 14 15
Emma Lembke is listed as the founder of Tech(nically) Politics. She also cofounded the LOG OFF movement, which solicits teens to rethink how they should engage with social media, and previously worked for Center for Humane Technology alongside Aliza Kopans. 16 17
References
- “About Us.” Technically Politics. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.technicallypolitics.org/about-us.
- “#TECHPOL ACTION TOOLKIT.” Tech(nically) Politics, n.d. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ft9eMDAU69ktwre6f8ckSkpbuQ1gM0nGpRYtc-5x0ms/edit
- “California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act – and the Looming State Patchwork of Online Child Protection Laws.” DLA Piper. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.dlapiper.com/en-at/insights/publications/2023/05/californias-age-appropriate-design-code-act.
- “Solutions Overview.” Center for Humane Technology. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.humanetech.com/solutions.
- “Solutions Overview.” Center for Humane Technology. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.humanetech.com/solutions.
- Nelson, Aniyah. “Brown Student Cofounds ‘tech(Nically) Politics’ Movement to Spur Greater Tech Regulation, Include Youth Voices.” The Brown Daily Herald, March 22, 2022. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/03/brown-student-cofounds-technically-politics-movement-to-spur-greater-tech-regulation-include-youth-voices.
- “#TECHPOL ACTION TOOLKIT.” Tech(nically) Politics, n.d. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ft9eMDAU69ktwre6f8ckSkpbuQ1gM0nGpRYtc-5x0ms/edit
- “Tech(Nically) Politics: The Youth Voice.” Accountable Tech, September 30, 2022. https://accountabletech.org/staff-post/technically-politics-the-youth-voice/.
- “Our Goal.” Technically Politics. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.technicallypolitics.org/our-goal.
- “#TECHPOL ACTION TOOLKIT.” Tech(nically) Politics, n.d. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ft9eMDAU69ktwre6f8ckSkpbuQ1gM0nGpRYtc-5x0ms/edit
- “Tech(Nically) Politics: The Youth Voice.” Accountable Tech, September 30, 2022. https://accountabletech.org/staff-post/technically-politics-the-youth-voice/.
- “The Privacy Deficit: Tech(Nically) Politics Episode 4.” YouTube, August 30, 2022. https://youtu.be/XxAs1_WQwXE.
- “Comparison Culture: Tech(Nically) Politics Episode 3.” YouTube, August 30, 2022. https://youtu.be/gSSun272ap4.
- Nelson, Aniyah. “Brown Student Cofounds ‘tech(Nically) Politics’ Movement to Spur Greater Tech Regulation, Include Youth Voices.” The Brown Daily Herald, March 22, 2022. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/03/brown-student-cofounds-technically-politics-movement-to-spur-greater-tech-regulation-include-youth-voices.
- “About Us.” Technically Politics. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.technicallypolitics.org/about-us.
- Nelson, Aniyah. “Brown Student Cofounds ‘tech(Nically) Politics’ Movement to Spur Greater Tech Regulation, Include Youth Voices.” The Brown Daily Herald, March 22, 2022. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/03/brown-student-cofounds-technically-politics-movement-to-spur-greater-tech-regulation-include-youth-voices.
- “About Us.” Technically Politics. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.technicallypolitics.org/about-us.