How to take ACTION NOW?!
Our Petitions
Social media literacy in all schools - OPEN FOR SIGNATURES!
Our next petition (Jan 29/22): We’ve kicked off our latest petition and it can be signed digitally from anywhere in the world here on our website. It seeks to make it mandatory for social media literacy classes in ALL elementary schools, everywhere! We need to prepare our kids for the future of being online and all of the risks involved – Join us – SIGN THE PETITION HERE. We will be serving a hard copy version of this petition on all provincial and state jurisdictions across North America soon and we need sponsors in each province/state. Want to help out? Email us now: info@helpusdefend.com
Age/ID verification on ALL social media - NOW CLOSED in Canada
Our first online petition (Aug 2020): garnered more than 10,000 digital signatures from around the world. We are looking for mandatory age/identity verification on all social media. Should adults have the ability to access children on social media? Do kids and other vulnerable persons have the right to be safe online? Our hard copy (paper) petition was circulated in several cities in Canada and in a little more than 24 hours of total campaign time, we ended the petition with a little less than 1000 physical signatures! Unfortunately only 748 were verified (by Canada’s House of Commons) although it has been presented to government by MP Arnold Viersen. We are waiting for a response from the Canadian federal government currently.
UPDATE – Aug 28/22: Response received from the Canadian government. They have advised they are putting an “expert group” together for investigation on these issues. See the government response HERE.
UPDATE – Feb 2024: The Canadian Government has introduced the Online Harms Bill (C-63) and while it does nothing to impose meaningful verification on tech companies or its users, it does suggest social media companies may have to make design changes to protect kids better on their platforms. The proposed legislation attempts to add on existing criminal sanctions to bad actors and creates a new body called the Digital Safety Commission, which will oversee certain complaints about social platforms and may attempt to enforce certain compliance rules. See more HERE
10-hour Ink-a-Thon
On May 8 2021, we started a 10-hour marathon thanking all of the 10,000+ people who signed our petition. Watch it now, below.
Help us reduce risks for children and vulnerable people online and have a direct impact on these issues in your community. LEARN MORE NOW!
DEFEND Events
What’s happening with DEFEND? Want to explore an interesting talk? See our fundraising endeavours: Here
Letter-Writing Campaign
We are letter-writing to big businesses like Match Group Inc. and others in an attempt to change policies and to protect children and vulnerable persons now. See who’s on the list. Take action now to encourage positive change!
Volunteer with us!
Volunteer in your area NOW to start taking proactive steps in your community to help protect children in small bite-sized ways.
NOW SEEKING VOLUNTEERS IN AUSTRALIA FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS
Already a volunteer? Want to recognize someone’s hard work on your team? Nominate any volunteer for our new Star of the Quarter program HERE.
