Summary
Emma Lembke is a leading Gen Z digital rights advocate. A 2025 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied political science and psychology, Lembke now serves on the Gen Z Advisory Board of the Sustainable Media Center. She will be joining the organization full-time in New York working on youth-led strategies for platform accountability and digital reform.
At SXSW 2025, Lembke delivered a keynote introducing ACTV8.Media, a groundbreaking co-design incubator developed in partnership with the Sustainable Media Center. ACTV8 empowers Gen Z creators to build the next generation of social technologies—with mental health, safety, and civic well-being baked into the code.
Lembke has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, met with White House officials, and been featured in The New York Times, NPR, CBS News, and Bloomberg. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2024.
Source: Sustainable Media Center
SustainableMedia.Center – 30/11/2025 (09:20)
In this talk, Steve Rosenbaum and Emma Lembke from the Sustainable Media Center lay out why the digital public square is falling apart — and what it will take to rebuild it. They argue that today’s social platforms profit from division, turning public conversation into a commodity and eroding trust across communities, markets, and democracy itself.
Emma shares her own experience growing up inside the algorithm and explains how Gen Z is pushing back by organizing, advocating, and redesigning digital spaces from the inside out. Steve reflects on the early promise of the internet and how algorithmic systems have reversed much of that optimism.
Together, they introduce the Sustainable Media Center’s initiatives: Actv8.Media, a Gen Z–led incubator building healthier platforms; the Social Intelligence Framework, which reimagines data control and AI; and a new Safe Social certification to help families and policymakers recognize healthier digital environments.
Their call to action is straightforward: treat conversation as public infrastructure, fund alternatives to outrage-driven platforms, and build a digital world where truth and trust support both democracy and the economy. The public square isn’t lost — it’s unfinished — and they invite partners to help build what comes next.
OnAir Post: Emma Lembke
News
My full-time job is fighting for tech accountability. As SMC’s Director of Gen Z Advocacy, that work has never felt more urgent. But I also have a deep passion for musical theater — and those two worlds rarely intersect. So when I discovered Patrick McAndrew’s The Startup, I was genuinely surprised, and genuinely thrilled.
Through sharp writing, humor, and original music, The Startup offers a compelling exploration of Big Tech’s influence — not just on society at large, but on our individual identities, relationships, and sense of agency. It’s the kind of project that leaves you questioning the platforms you use every day, while also reminding you of something we don’t talk about enough: storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we have for critique, reflection, and change. As someone who spends her days in policy briefs and platform accountability battles, I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting a musical to stop me in my tracks. This one did.
McAndrew’s journey with The Startup began nearly a decade ago. In 2016, after reading Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, he began to more deeply interrogate the role technology was playing in our lives. What struck him most was not just the scale of digital influence, but its quiet reshaping of human connection — the way screens had begun to substitute for presence, and engagement metrics had begun to substitute for meaning.
WashU senior Emma Lembke, 22, has earned a spot on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” social media list.
Lembke co-founded Log Off, an organization for and by teens who want to raise awareness about social media’s impact on mental health. She has testified before Congress and visited the White House to advocate for regulations and safety standards in social media and artificial intelligence (AI); is establishing Log Off chapters at WashU and other college campuses; and has emerged as a leading champion for digital wellness, appearing in The New York Times, Time, CBS News and other outlets. Lembke is majoring in political science in Arts & Sciences.
In addition to leaders in social media, the annual list highlights innovators in fields such as AI, media, sports, education, health care and finance.
About
Overview
Emma Lembke is a Gen Z pioneer in youth digital wellness who has rapidly emerged as one of the most influential young voices advocating for healthier social media use. At just 17, she channeled her own struggles with social media addiction into founding the LOG OFF Movement in 2020, an international organization that empowers young people to develop healthier relationships with technology.
Her impact has grown far beyond LOG OFF’s initial scope. As co-founder of Design It For Us and a member of the Gen Z Board of the Sustainable Media Center, Lembke bridges the gap between youth experience and policy action. In February 2024, she brought her powerful perspective to the Senate Judiciary Committee, testifying about social media’s impact on teen mental health and the urgent need for change. Additionally, Lembke was recently awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Social Media category for her work advocating for healthier digital spaces.
What sets Lembke apart is her ability to transform personal struggle into systemic change. Starting with her own experiences of social media addiction at age 12, she has built a movement that combines youth advocacy, peer support, and policy reform. Her work demonstrates that Gen Z isn’t just living with social media’s challenges – they’re leading the charge to solve them.
Her efforts have been covered by numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, CBS, MTV, NHK, The Hill, and Bloomberg. Look here for an exhaustive list of Emma’s advocacy work including awards, publications, and featured public speaking events.
Source: LinkedIn
Experience
NextGen Advisory Board Member
We Are Enough LLC
Feb 2026 – Present · 2 mos
Next Gen Advisory Board member for social impact brand and movement launched by TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, along with founding partners Kid Cudi, Kevin Love, Victoria Garrick Browne, Yung Pueblo, and Kevin Hines.
Sustainable Media Center
2 yrs 3 mos
Member Board of Directors
Part-time
Jun 2025 – Present · 10 mos
New York City Metropolitan Area · Remote
As a member of the Board of Directors for the Sustainable Media Center, I provide strategic guidance and organizational oversight to support the mission of growing an intergenerational community to explore, experiment, and deploy solutions that will give a new generation of media consumers and creators meaningful agency and ownership of their increasingly media-centric lives.
Director of Gen Z Advocacy
Internship
May 2025 – Present · 11 mos
New York, New York, United States · Hybrid
As a Summer Associate at the Sustainable Media Center, I have a myriad of responsibilities. Most notably, I assist with digital strategy and content development, support youth outreach and community engagement efforts, help plan and execute public programs and events, and participate in meetings with board members and potential funders.
Skills: Public Speaking
Gen Z Board Member
Jan 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 3 mos
Remote
As a member of the Gen Z Board at the Sustainable Media Center, I advise the center on ways to effectively and efficiently integrate youth voices in the interdisciplinary, intergenerational fight for a safer digital future.
Skills: Public Speaking
Core Team Member
Design It For Us · Part-time
Mar 2023 – Present · 3 yrs 1 mo
Core Team Member of the Design It For Us coalition. The new first-of-its-kind “Design It For Us” coalition aims to drive and achieve key policy reforms to protect kids, teens, and young adults online through the mobilization of youth activists, leaders, and voices. The youth-led coalition is led by two Co-Chairs and a Core Team of young people between the age of 18 and 26. The coalition is supported by an array of youth activists, youth-led organizations, and advisors.
Founder and CEO
LOG OFF Movement · Self-employed
Jul 2020 – Present · 5 yrs 9 mos
LOG OFF is an international youth movement dedicated to rethinking social media’s effect on teenagers. As Co-Founder and CEO, I assisted in running outreach, marketing, education planning, and social media. I designed and monitored the website and company graphics. Lastly, I oversaw over fifty people from thirteen different countries dispersed within our three volunteer groups (LOG OFF Writers, LOG OFF Teen Leadership Council, LOG OFF Regional Representatives). While working with LOG OFF, I engaged in numerous public speaking engagements related to digital wellbeing hyperlinked below.
Social Media’s Negative Effect on Teenagers | Log Off
Emma Lembke’s Digital Wellness Work
Co-Founder
Tech(nically) Politics
Mar 2021 – May 2023 · 2 yrs 3 mos
Co-Founded and co-runs Tech(nically Politics): a youth lobbying campaign dedicated to utilizing the power of youth storytelling to push forth Big Tech regulation.
Digital Safety Legislation | Tech(nically) Politics
Intern
Accountable Tech · Full-time
May 2022 – Jan 2023 · 9 mos
Accountable Tech is an advocacy campaign working to bring about long-term structural reform to tackle the existential threat social media companies pose to our information ecosystem and democracy. While at AT, I constructed and implemented a viable three-year business plan for the LOG OFF movement. I trained in managing advocacy campaigns under the mentorship of the Executive Director, Nicole Gill. I spearheaded the “Design It For Us” lobbying campaign that resulted in the successful passage of the California Age Appropriate Design Code into law. I drafted an Open Letter to Tech CEOs signed by over 100 people under the age of 18 that ran as a full-page print and homepage takeover in the LA Times. Lastly, I represented AT in partnership calls for ongoing campaigns and to support reproductive justice initiatives.
Source: LinkedIn
Education
Washington University in St. Louis
Political Science and Government
Aug 2021 – May 2025
Grade: 3.95 GPA
Activities and societies: Awarded the 2025 Lien Award in Political Science at WashU Awarded the 2024 Salisbury Award in Political Science at WashU 2024 Standards President of the Gamma Iota chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma Wednesday Addams in the Cast N’ Crew 2021 Production of “The Addams Family” Ensemble Member in the Cast N’ Crew 2024 Production of “Pippin” Rona Lisa Peretti in the Performing Arts Department Production of “The 25th Annual Puntam County Spelling Bee”
The Altamont School
2017 – 2021
Activities and societies: Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, National Honor Society President 20′-21′, Presiding Member of the Honor Court 21′, 10th and 11th grade Class President, Addiction Prevention President 19′-21′, Girlspring (Female Empowerment) President 20′-21′, Musical Theatre (roles as Morticia, Pumbaa, the witch in Big Fish), National Thespian Society, Miree Ethical Leadership Program
Source: LinkedIn
Licenses & certifications
SW38: Pyramids of Giza: Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology
HarvardX – An Online Learning Initiative by Harvard University through edX
Issued Sep 2020
Credential ID a06cf2132e1a4c1a9e6c0f82dba460e8
Source: LinkedIn
Skills
Public Speaking
Research
Problem Solving
Writing
Leadership
Source: LinkedIn
Web Links
Videos
Gen Z vs. the Algorithm: Building a New Public Square (Emma Lembke and Steven Rosenbaum 11/11/25).
November 30, 2025 (09:20)
By: SustainableMedia.Center
In this talk, Steve Rosenbaum and Emma Lembke from the Sustainable Media Center lay out why the digital public square is falling apart — and what it will take to rebuild it. They argue that today’s social platforms profit from division, turning public conversation into a commodity and eroding trust across communities, markets, and democracy itself.
Emma shares her own experience growing up inside the algorithm and explains how Gen Z is pushing back by organizing, advocating, and redesigning digital spaces from the inside out. Steve reflects on the early promise of the internet and how algorithmic systems have reversed much of that optimism.
Together, they introduce the Sustainable Media Center’s initiatives: Actv8.Media, a Gen Z–led incubator building healthier platforms; the Social Intelligence Framework, which reimagines data control and AI; and a new Safe Social certification to help families and policymakers recognize healthier digital environments.
Their call to action is straightforward: treat conversation as public infrastructure, fund alternatives to outrage-driven platforms, and build a digital world where truth and trust support both democracy and the economy. The public square isn’t lost — it’s unfinished — and they invite partners to help build what comes next.
SXSW: Emma Lembke SXSW Preso 9m V7
March 20, 2025 (09:55)
By: SustainableMedia.Center
NotebookLM Experiments
This is an experiment with using this post as a source for NotebookLM media outputs
Infographic
Brief Report
Emma Lembke and the Movement for a Sustainable Digital Public Square
Executive Summary
Emma Lembke has emerged as a primary figure in the Gen Z-led movement for digital rights, mental health, and platform accountability. A 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and 2025 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Lembke has transitioned from a teen activist to the Director of Gen Z Advocacy at the Sustainable Media Center (SMC). Her work centers on the premise that the current digital public square is failing because social platforms profit from division and “outrage-driven” algorithmic systems.
The movement led by Lembke and her collaborators, such as Steven Rosenbaum, proposes a multifaceted solution: treating digital conversation as public infrastructure, empowering youth creators through incubators like ACTV8.Media, and advocating for decentralized data ownership. Through organizations like the LOG OFF Movement, Design It For Us, and Accountable Tech, Lembke has successfully influenced legislation—notably the California Age Appropriate Design Code—and continues to push for systemic reform through Senate testimony and strategic advisory roles.
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Profile of Emma Lembke: Leadership and Advocacy
Professional Trajectory
Emma Lembke’s career is defined by her transition from personal struggle with social media addiction at age 12 to systemic advocacy on a global stage.
- Sustainable Media Center (SMC): Lembke serves as the Director of Gen Z Advocacy and a member of the Board of Directors. She focuses on youth-led strategies for platform accountability and the co-design of social technologies.
- LOG OFF Movement: Founded by Lembke in 2020 at age 17, this international youth movement aims to rethink social media’s effect on teenagers through peer support, education, and advocacy.
- Design It For Us: As a Core Team member, she helps lead this first-of-its-kind youth coalition to drive policy reforms protecting young people online.
- Strategic Advisory Roles: She is a NextGen Advisory Board Member for “We Are Enough LLC” (a movement launched by Blake Mycoskie) and has previously interned with Accountable Tech, where she spearheaded lobbying campaigns and drafted business plans for digital wellness.
Academic and Formal Recognition
- Education: Graduated from Washington University in St. Louis (2025) with a degree in Political Science and Psychology (3.95 GPA). She received the 2025 Lien Award and 2024 Salisbury Award in Political Science.
- Forbes 30 Under 30 (2024): Recognized in the Social Media category for her work in digital wellness.
- Senate Testimony: Testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2024 regarding the impact of social media on teen mental health.
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Core Initiatives and Frameworks
The Sustainable Media Center (SMC) Vision
Lembke and SMC founder Steven Rosenbaum argue that today’s digital public square turns conversation into a commodity, eroding trust in democracy and the economy. They propose three primary pillars for reform:
| Pillar | Description |
| ACTV8.Media | A co-design incubator that empowers Gen Z creators to build social technologies with mental health, safety, and civic well-being integrated into the code. |
| Social Intelligence Framework | A system designed to reimagine data control and the application of AI. |
| Safe Social Certification | A new standard to help families and policymakers identify healthier digital environments. |
The “People’s Internet” and Data Ownership
The source context outlines a conceptual shift toward “The People’s Internet,” which prioritizes user agency over corporate control. Key components include:
- Data Ownership: Advocates for a shift where users, rather than platforms, own their personal data.
- Project Liberty: A key organization involved in this space, featuring labs, institutes, and alliances focused on decentralized web architectures.
- onAir Network: A community-driven network that facilitates discussions on AI policy, data engineering, and digital rights.
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The Technological Landscape: Protocols and Applications
The movement for a “People’s Internet” is supported by an array of decentralized protocols and alternative social applications designed to bypass traditional algorithmic control.
Decentralized Protocols
- Solid Protocol: A project focused on data ownership and user-centric data storage.
- Frequency: A protocol associated with Project Liberty for decentralized social networking.
- AT Protocol & Activity Pub: Foundational technologies for federated social media (powering Bluesky and Mastodon, respectively).
- Nostr: A protocol for decentralized messaging and social networking.
Alternative Platforms
- Bluesky & Mastodon: Noted as decentralized alternatives to traditional social media.
- MeWe & WeAre8: Social apps positioned as part of the effort to build healthier digital spaces.
- People’s Bid for TikTok: An initiative referenced as an alternative to current TikTok ownership.
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Legislative and Cultural Impact
Policy and Reform
Lembke has demonstrated a capacity for achieving tangible legislative results:
- California Age Appropriate Design Code: While at Accountable Tech, Lembke spearheaded the lobbying campaign that led to the successful passage of this law.
- Open Letter to Tech CEOs: She drafted an open letter signed by over 100 individuals under the age of 18, which was featured as a full-page print in the LA Times.
- Tech(nically) Politics: Co-founded this youth lobbying campaign to use storytelling as a tool for pushing Big Tech regulation.
Cultural Criticism through Storytelling
Lembke emphasizes that policy briefs alone are insufficient; storytelling is a critical tool for change.
- “The Startup” Musical: Lembke has highlighted Patrick McAndrew’s musical as a powerful critique of Big Tech’s influence on human connection. She notes that the work interrogates how engagement metrics have substituted for actual meaning in human relationships.
- Public Square as Infrastructure: The movement advocates for treating digital conversation as “public infrastructure” that requires funding and alternatives to the current outrage-driven models.
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Conclusion
The work of Emma Lembke and her associated organizations represents a shift from passive consumption to active redesign of the digital world. By combining high-level policy advocacy with the technical development of new protocols and incubators like ACTV8.Media, the movement seeks to rebuild a digital public square founded on truth, trust, and user ownership rather than algorithmic exploitation.
