How BeMe Health Is Building An Organization That Prioritizes Teen Trust And Safety
Child Rights-Centered Design Is At The Heart Of Everything We Build
Derek E. Baird, Chief Youth Privacy Officer, BeMe Health
Sam Dorison, Head of Partnerships & Special Initiatives, BeMe Health
There is widespread consensus that youth-focused organizations are obligated to prioritize teen trust and safety but that many organizations are not doing nearly enough. From high-profile stories about the shortcomings of leading organizations to state and federal proposals for new legislation, the spotlight is unquestionably on this work. BeMe Health is committed to teen trust and safety, and we wanted to share three ways that we’re already taking action.
From our founding, we committed to building products for teens that would exceed the standards set by regulators and outside groups. Why? Because we wanted to live our values right from the start and because retrofitting products to meet trust and safety standards is slower, more costly, and more error-prone than getting it right from the onset.
BeMe not only complies with existing US regulations such as COPPA but also aligns, where there isn’t conflict with US law, with more rigorous international child rights regulations, including the UK Age-Appropriate Design Code, and integrating child rights into our design, business, and products by aligning with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the principles of Child Rights by Design (CRbD).
“Many organizations treat regulations, particularly in privacy, as a static set of requirements to be dealt with sometime along the way when making youth products. Sadly these concerns are often addressed after a product ships, and in many cases in an insufficient way,” said Scott Traylor, President of the Children’s Media Association for the Bay Area. “But the best way for an organization to achieve its mission in an ethical way is to follow the example of BeMe and get out in front, and consider regulations right from the start, long before the first line of code is written.”
As BeMe Health’s team has grown, we’ve also ensured that all parts of the organization are able to contribute to our efforts to protect teens. BeMe Health is fortunate to work closely with KidAware, the leading training program on data privacy and safety standards for companies that work with youth data. Regardless of team and role, every staff member at BeMe is required to complete KidAware training.
“Making KidAware a core training course for staff embeds trust and safety into an organization and ensures that these values are always prioritized,” said Katie Goldstein, Global Head of KidAware at Epic Games. “This demonstrates that BeMe is investing in youth privacy at a very high level.”
From our founding, we committed to building products for teens that would exceed the standards set by regulators and outside groups. Why? Because we wanted to live our values right from the start.
Finally, BeMe doesn’t just prioritize trust and safety for teens, we prioritize it with teens. Like in all parts of our work, we see the user as our core stakeholder. With our Teen Advisory Board of over 50 teens, we discuss new features and dive into how they’ll actually work. We demo the actual user experiences and are fortunate to get feedback on how we can be even clearer.
“I feel more confident using BeMe and recommending it to my friends because I know that my information is being used in ways that I understand,” said Anushka Gundimeda, a member of BeMe’s Teen Advisory Board.
As BeMe Health continues to grow and serve even more teens, we will continue to share how we prioritize trust and safety. For now, we’re grateful that the spotlight has turned to this critical issue, and we’re proud to work with individuals and organizations that share our values and commitment to action.
BeMe is available for download on Google Play and the App Store.
