Research, advocacy, and action for children's digital safety

Kids deserve independent advocates.

Big tech has too much power over children's digital lives — and too much influence over the people trying to fix it. CLARA Standards exists to uncover what's actually happening, advocate for the right laws, and give kids the skills to navigate the digital world safely.

Work With Us
01

Uncover

Partner with researchers to find out what's actually happening on the platforms kids use.

02

Advocate

Help lawmakers write laws that actually hold platforms accountable.

03

Educate & Activate

Translate what we know for families and give kids real digital safety skills.

Coming soon · Our flagship project

The CLARA Platform Scorecard

Independent, evidence-based safety ratings for the platforms kids actually use: social media, messaging, gaming, and AI chatbots, rated on 43 safety criteria. Every rating is traced to cited evidence and shows exactly where each platform protects children, and where it doesn't.

See what the Scorecard covers

Here for you

Wherever your family stands on tech, we meet you there.

Whatever your values, house rules, comfort with technology, or feelings about screens, from all-in to screen-free, we're on your side. We'll give you straight advice when you want it, and we'll never judge you for the choices you make.

You know your child best. We're here to help, not to tell you how to parent.

A parent and three children with their dog sit on a rock, looking down a winding path toward a sunrise

The Problem

The people with the most power have the least accountability.

Everyone can see something is wrong. Kids are becoming passive consumers of technology designed to hold their attention at any cost. Parents watch it happen and feel powerless — handed spy tools and policing software instead of real support. Some children are genuinely harmed.

Meanwhile, the companies building these products have enormous influence over who gets to study the problems, who gets funded to solve them, and what laws get written. They shape the child safety organizations that depend on their money. They design safeguards that look good on paper but don't work in practice. They make products addictive and resist making them child-safe.

01Safety systems that don't work

Platforms ship age gates and parental controls that exist on paper. In reality, up to 60% of children under 13 are on age-restricted platforms — most with their parents' knowledge. In-app parental controls sit below 20% activation. These aren't safety features. They're checkboxes.

02Parents set up to fail

Instead of building products that are safe by design, companies put the burden on parents — most of whom don't use these tools the way kids do and aren't equipped to monitor technology that changes faster than they can learn it. Parenting shouldn't require a surveillance operation.

03Independence is hard to find

Many child safety organizations depend on funding from the companies they evaluate. That doesn't make them corrupt — but it makes true independence rare. Even well-meaning organizations may hesitate to challenge their funders. The field needs voices with no financial stake in the outcome.

04Lawmakers need better support

Legislators around the world are working hard on youth online safety — but they need research-backed, tech-experienced guidance to write laws that actually hold platforms accountable. Good intentions aren't enough when the other side of the table has unlimited technical and legal resources.

Four children with backpacks walk arm in arm down a sunny path, a dog at their side

Our position on AI

Let kids be kids before AI.

AI should wait as long as possible.

It doesn't belong in elementary and middle schools. Critical thinking and relationship skills should develop naturally first.

Support Our Work

Fund independent research for kids' digital safety.

We take no money from the tech platforms we evaluate — which means we rely on people like you.

CLARA Standards is a nonprofit with federal tax-exempt (501(c)(3)) status pending. Your gift is not yet tax-deductible, but if the IRS approves our application, exemption applies retroactively and your gift may become deductible for the year you gave it. Donations are held in a dedicated account; if our application isn't approved, you can request a refund or have your gift directed to a mission-aligned children's-safety nonprofit.

Support Our Work

CLARA Standards' 501(c)(3) status is pending — gifts are not yet tax-deductible. Learn what that means →