First Place winner of the Internet Policy Challenge at MIT’s 8th Annual Policy Hackathon, developed with Matthew Greer-Gentis and Christina Qiu for the Integrity Institute.
Our approach:
- Deployed AI to classify 146 state bills and congressional testimonies into quantifiable policy mechanisms
- Analyzed 67,921 real-world youth online sessions to establish threat patterns
- Built an interactive dashboard making legislative data publicly accessible
- Revealed why laws fail: California’s content-based approach was blocked by courts, while Connecticut’s design-focused bill survived. We mapped this pattern across the entire legislative landscape
Why it matters: 186,800 child enticement reports were filed in 2023 (300% increase since 2021). Roblox CEO admitted “any anonymous adult could talk to any anonymous minor” for 18 years. Only 4 of 146 state bills passed, and half were immediately blocked by courts.
Our solution: The Youth Safety & Design Standard (YSDS), a federal framework with design-based duties, protective defaults, and mandatory transparency addressing documented harms.