We are calling for policy reform to ensure all social media users have full control over how algorithms shape their online feeds.

We believe personal user controls should be a basic user right. These empower users, not platforms, with the ability to moderate what they see, ensuring user safety without compromising free speech.

We want social media platforms to give all users full control over how algorithms shape their online feed to promote safe, customizable, and transparent online environments. This would allow people to have meaningful control over the content that they are served.

Under our proposals, parents and caregivers to vulnerable users would have full control over the topics that are served to their dependents.

The Algorithm™ food brand was created as a tangible, visceral depiction of algorithmic harm and the non-consensual nature of it. It brings to life the concept of content being ‘force-fed’ to users without their consent in a stark, engaging way.

The brand gives decision makers and those in influence a provocative ‘taste’ of the harmful content that is being served to people on social media without them searching for it and without their consent.

Algorithm™ is a fictional brand name used for illustrative purposes only and is not associated with any actual company or product.

Harmful content on social media is increasingly being recognized as detrimental to mental and physical wellbeing according to the World Health Organization. It can affect anyone of any age, especially when users are vulnerable due to past trauma, grief, addiction, mental health issues, age, or capacity.

Widespread exposure has been shown to impact:

• Mental health – including anxiety, poor sleep, depression, and low self-esteem
• Body image and encouraging eating disorders
• Self-harm, suicide, and dangerous practices and ‘challenges’

Data from the Pew Research Center found that 49% of social media users say they encounter content that makes them feel depressed. Our Forced Feed 2026 report shows that 65% of social media users would like control of their algorithms.

Allowing people full control over the content they consume would likely have a significantly positive impact on their physical and mental health. As the campaign evolves, we will be working alongside academic institutions to better understand the health benefits of content control.

We believe that dependency on progressive censorship to protect users from harm is neither viable nor sustainable over the long term. Because we are all totally unique, ‘harmful’ is subjective, and so protection from harm requires user agency over topics and content on an individual basis.

It’s complex. There is always room for the platforms to do more to protect their users, but they face immense challenges regarding user safety at population scale and the capabilities of the technology they depend on to identify potentially harmful content before it can cause harm.

We have seen huge advances in platform safety policies and user tools, but we now need to see similar efforts made to address the risks of algorithm-associated user harms.

The platforms would offer hierarchical content filters inside the user interface, allowing users to deselect sensitive or unwanted topics from their feed.

Their algorithm would be immediately updated to reflect the user's choices. Parents and caregivers would be able to deselect topics that they feel are a risk to their dependents.

We see this as a very logical and workable solution. The core technology for PROTECT already exists; it is currently being used by the social media platforms to categorize and serve content to users.

Yes, our Forced Feed 2026 report shows that 65% of people want to control their social media algorithms.

Forced Feed 2026 used two complementary research approaches to understand both the behavior of social media algorithms and public attitudes toward algorithmic control. Findings included:

• 90% of test accounts were exposed to racist content.
• 60% of test accounts were exposed to misogyny.
• 60% of test accounts were exposed to violence.
• 65% of social media users would like more control over their algorithms and the content that they see.
• 69% of social media users would like more insight into how algorithms decide why they see what they see.
• Only 36% of social media users feel in control of their algorithmic experiences.
• 40% of social media users don’t understand algorithms.

You can explore the full report here.

Independent data is in line with our own findings with a theme of harmful algorithmic experiences and a desire for control over their algorithms. Examples of these include:

• 49% of social media users say they encounter content that makes them feel depressed (Pew Research Center, 2018).
• 76% of US social media users want control over their social media algorithm (Cadet, 2025).