A common misconception is that writers and actors are all super rich, but it couldn’t be further from the truth, which is that 95% of the 160,000 actors with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) make less than $25,000 per year, and they need to make $26,000 a year to even qualify for health insurance. And not to mention that the top studio executive made 384 times the average writer the past five years. The reality is that the massive wealth inequality that we see between the ultra wealthy and everyday working people is reflected in the entertainment industry too. Streaming companies make BILLIONS of dollars in corporate profits each year, pay top executives hundreds of millions of dollars combined, while giving writers and actors the short end of the stick. This cannot continue, and this is why actors and writers are on strike. And the impact of the companies' greed is not just causing harm to these workers, it is limiting the stories that come from the communities we need to hear from most. As the industry’s business model becomes unsustainable for emerging writers and actors there will potentially be fewer stories penned by historically marginalized communities. The lack of representation impacts us all—and it’s especially jarring given right-wing attacks on sharing diverse stories in classrooms and libraries. It also just means the range of TV shows we get to see will be worse. It's pretty clear that writers and creators should be fairly compensated to ensure creative talent of all backgrounds can contribute to the quality content we all love. Writers and actors simply want a fair contract, and together, we can make that happen. Sign the petition to tell ultrawealthy entertainment executives to put people over corporate greed and give writers and actors a fair contract NOW!

We cannot jump from one mishandled, corrupted social platform to the next. Meta needs to listen to the public, establish trust, and address serious concerns from the start if they want to grow this new platform. Sign the petition now.

Social media companies have turned the community power of social media into a blizzard of distraction. Instead of bringing us together, social media CEOs keep making decisions that make matters worse. Now Facebook is flooding its users with irrelevant posts that we didn't sign up for. CEO Mark Zuckerberg must reverse this decision and stop Facebook from becoming a total junkyard of useless distraction.

Google is well aware of the dangerous and harmful impact that ads from fake clinics have on pregnant people seeking abortion care. Google already came under fire after a report was released in 2021 regarding fake ads about “abortion pill reversal.” But despite their own policies against advertisers promoting “misleading information about products,” they have continued to host (and profit off of) similarly predatory ads. Additionally, they have a policy that clearly states: “if you want to run ads using queries related to getting an abortion, you will first need to be certified as an advertiser that either provides abortions or does not provide abortions. If you are not certified, you won’t be able to run ads using queries related to getting an abortion.” They are clearly not consistently enforcing their own policies.

Google boasts about supporting its LGBTQ+ employees, stating “authenticity should always be embraced.” Yet they were quick to cave to bigots who claimed that their optional Pride drag performance was “a direct affront to the religious beliefs and sensitivities of Christians.” If only a few hundred signatures could result in them canceling their sponsorship for a Pride event, what else might they be willing to roll back in an attempt to align themselves with anti-LGBTQ+ extremists? LGBTQ+ people and allies need to show up LOUDLY and STRONGLY in support of LGBTQ+ employees at Google and make it clear that we won’t allow Big Tech to cave to discrimination.

Moms for Liberty's national convention will bring hundreds of dangerous extremists to Philadelphia and feature right-wing politicians who are a threat to our democracy, including Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The Museum of the American Revolution should never have agreed to host the Moms for Liberty national convention welcome reception. Employees and patrons of the museum agree and have called on the museum to cancel, with over a third of staff signing an internal petition against hosting. The rest of the convention will take place at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown hotel. And unfortunately, this isn't Marriott's first go at enabling Moms for Liberty—they also hosted their convention last year in Tampa, Florida. Our freedom to learn—and to make decisions about what our students and children can learn—is being stripped away by concerted attacks from right-wing parents like Moms for Liberty and Republican legislators dead set on politicizing our schools. It’s no surprise that Moms for Liberty targets LGBTQ+ books and books about race and racial diversity. It's the right wing's latest tactic designed to eradicate conversations students have in the classroom around genocide, white supremacy, gender, and sexuality. The Museum of the American Revolution and Marriott must do the right thing and refuse to host Moms for Liberty.

Starbucks workers will not be silenced. Just this weekend, Starbucks Workers United striked over Starbucks’ hypocritical treatment of LGBTQIA+ workers and their illegal union-busting campaign. 21 stores temporarily closed, including the flagship Reserve Roastery in Seattle. This is historic – there has never been a strike on queer and trans workers rights. Starbucks has built its business on claims of being a progressive company. Yet all too often, its actions don't live up to these proclaimed values. Reports and videos of managers refusing to allow rainbow flags are not the first attacks on the queer workers and customers who help drive their stories. Let's hold Starbucks accountable and make it clear that we're not buying their empty claims to be a good company.

Trader Joe's is a company that carefully cultivates a progressive reputation. But over the past few years, we have seen the company culture shift from a workplace with incredible pay, benefits, and atmosphere, to a company with increasing turnover, declining benefits, and stagnating wages. The pandemic put those changes into stark relief as “essential” workers everywhere were asked to risk their health in order to keep the economy going. These two factors—the company’s internal changes and the pandemic—made it clear that we needed to have a say in our workplace, and that a union was the only answer to that need. A union could also bring Trader Joe’s back into alignment with its own core values, the values that had made it a great place to work and shop in the first place. Even though we have won elections in four stores, Trader Joe’s continues to union bust and refuse to bargain in good faith. Recently, Trader Joe’s fired Steve Andrade, one of the crew members in Hadley, MA for completely frivolous reasons. In his termination paperwork, management claimed that a power tool belonged to Steve, and its presence in the store created a safety issue serious enough to warrant firing him. The catch? This tool didn’t even belong to Steve. In fact, the tool was at the store long before Steve started working in Hadley nine years ago. Since we won our first union election, we’ve heard from hundreds of crew members across the country eager to unionize their stores, and we are helping many of them organize right now. But instead of allowing the free and fair elections they promised their workers, or bargaining in good faith, Trader Joe’s has hired a union-busting law firm and is fighting us every step of the way. Trader Joe’s has fired union supporters, threatened and coerced workers, and continues to drag their feet at the bargaining table. We can only win when we stand together in solidarity. Can you take a moment to sign our petition to demand that Trader Joe’s stop union-busting and reinstate workers fired for organizing?

We’re breathing in dirty air right now which will decrease our life expectancy. We have a fundamental right to a healthy environment. With the current AQI levels in and around the state of PA, many of us are experiencing health issues because of the Canadian Wildfires. Scientists have expressed to us that events like this will continue to happen more frequently due to Climate Change inaction. We deserve a future and that is why we should all sign this.

It’s not just YouTube. The Social Media Monitoring team at Common Cause spends every Election Day tracking blatant attempts to convince people their votes don't count or that we can't trust election officials. But the response we’ve received hasn’t been enough. We, along with 120 other groups, called on social media platforms to make specific policy changes to help moderate election lies before the 2022 elections. Instead, these platforms continued allowing harmful content to spread—to say nothing of right-wing sites like Gab and Parler that are designed to spread disinformation. Social media platforms should not put profit over corporate responsibility and democracy itself. Extremist groups have exploited the corporate greed and reluctance by the platforms to moderate content allowing disinformation and hate speech to spread. This allows marginalized voices to be silenced while polarizing voices, and those advocating violence are amplified exponentially. We must send a clear message that consumers—and our democracy—deserve better from our social media platforms.

More than 350 executives, researchers, and engineers who work on artificial intelligence—including the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind the infamous ChatGPT—signed a statement declaring that, "Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war." The statement was drafted in such a way that a broad range of experts signed on to identify the problem, but the many potential solutions are up to Congress. We know that Big Tech companies, including Microsoft and Google, spend a lot of money—bankrolling politicians, funding lobbyists, generating propaganda, and hiring armies of lawyers—blatantly trying to weaken regulations or prevent them from being enacted in the first place. The dangers of AI being exploited for identity theft, privacy violations, and disinformation campaigns are concerning—and so are the risks of massive job losses, abuse by authoritarians, and the unknown limits of this technology's ability to evolve beyond humans' ability to implement safety protocols. The rapid pace at which AI is evolving requires appropriate action from Congress. We need safeguards now while there is still time to embrace innovative technology while protecting the public.

Multiple reports this year alone make it clear that social media's impacts can be detrimental to the health and well- being of children. And, just recently, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that social media can be a "profound risk" to youth. The harmful effects of social media are directly linked to the design of the products themselves—Big Tech makes a decision to create products that have addictive and dangerous features. A survey we did with YouGov found that half of American teenagers report losing sleep because they feel 'stuck' on social media, and more than one third say they do not get as much homework done as they want to because they get stuck on social media. Pew Research Center found that almost half of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 experienced cyberbullying, with teenage girls more likely face abuse. Pew's findings also point to a significant racial component for children experiencing online harms—seven-in-ten Black teens and 62% of Hispanic teens say online harassment and bullying are a major problem for people their age compared with 46% of white teens. Yet, with each passing moment, Big Tech uses its almost limitless capacity and resources to out-maneuver and out-lobby efforts to make digital environments safer. State legislators, inspired by concerned families nationwide, are fighting to pass rules which keep the benefits of social media without the harmful effects of Big Tech's toxic business model. Yet, with each passing moment, Big Tech uses its almost limitless capacity and resources to out-maneuver and out-lobby efforts to make digital environments safer—their business model leverages personal data for profit while people pay the cost. Many of these corporations hide behind their membership in a trade association called TechNet, which lobbies against legislation to protect children. While Apple, Etsy, Samsung, Salesforce, and others constantly promote privacy, safety and security—TechNet fights against those principles. Add your name to demand that Big Tech companies stand up for kids' safety online by withdrawing from TechNet and committing to designing products that are not addictive and harmful to families.