Marisa Naughton
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications, Common Sense
Meet Our Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Weiss
Danny tells us how honest conversations in clear language can move the needle on important issues, and why he still reads hard copy newspapers every day.
Topics: California
COPPA
Digital Divide
Federal Legislation
Online Privacy and Safety
State Legislation
Our Meet the Subject Matter Expert series uncovers our team's superpowers and showcases the unique human talent behind our mission to improve the media landscape for kids and families. See our previous articles on Amanda Lenhart, Jill Murphy, Girard Kelly, Betsy Bozdech, and Merve Lapus.
Danny oversees advocacy operations at Common Sense. He brings nearly three decades of service on Capitol Hill, including as chief of staff to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Rep. George Miller. Danny has an extensive background in policy and has worked on the winning side of a number of significant legislative battles on the Hill, which include passing the Affordable Care Act, saving the school lunch program, and protecting national parks and forests. Danny and his advocacy team lead Common Sense's efforts to close the digital divide, protect children's online data privacy, and hold social media companies accountable for making the internet healthier and safer for all kids and teens.
Tell us a little about your personal backstory and what you bring from your experience to your work at Common Sense.
My first job out of college was as a newspaper correspondent in Washington, D.C. for States News Service, localizing national news for regional and local papers. My first assignment was to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I learned early on how to translate what seem like complicated topics into relatable issues with a local perspective.
We try not to lose touch with that at Common Sense. We work hard to get our information into accessible outlets where people can see how our work benefits them day to day. I also learned, as the old expression goes, that the news never sleeps. So I tend to be on the job, even when I am not at my desk.
I operate with a sense of urgency, partly because our issues are about kids' physical and mental well-being, which is arguably a matter of life and death, and partly because I learned from Speaker Pelosi and Representative Miller the importance of time. You never have enough of it, and you do not get to control it. You have to move fast but also be accurate. Have the facts on your side and a good message to tell your story.
At the same time, I understand there is a long view. Over the course of my congressional career, many of the biggest wins I contributed to—like passing affordable health care or protecting California's fresh water supplies—took years to accomplish, even though so many Americans supported those causes. It is hard to score a quick win in the policy world, especially in Congress, but you have to keep at it.
That is certainly true in the case of tech policy, where the industry is enormously powerful, well-connected, and wealthy, because companies have unlimited money to spend to try to slow down or kill efforts to regulate them. One good example is children's privacy. The federal privacy law for kids is more than 25 years old. Common Sense has been working to update that law for more than 10 years. And just this summer, we finally got the Senate to pass a bill to improve that law. We keep tech busy, and they keep us busy. And we work together when we can. But we don't stop pushing. We have had a number of successes in the states, where it is a little easier to move bills. And we never lose our focus on Congress, but it is a slog. Along with the privacy bill I just mentioned, we also just made headway on an important social media accountability bill. So, we are seeing momentum on our side. As my old boss George Miller used to say, "If you want to get into this fight, you better bring your lunch."
Another thing that's important to me is staying honest. From my time in journalism, politics, and legislative and nonprofit advocacy, and from the way I was raised as a kid, I have always believed that there needs to be somebody who's willing to challenge orthodoxy, question conventional thinking, and keep people—including myself—honest.
How do you see Common Sense making a lasting impact?
Our team is focused on direct impact. The first part of our mission is to make material changes in kids' lives through public policy, and we have helped enact laws over the years that have done just that. For example, we led the fight to pass California's state privacy law, the CCPA. Our own research and advocacy also directly contributed to a historic investment in broadband as part of the 2021 federal infrastructure law.
And this year alone, our efforts helped pass privacy and online safety laws in Maryland, Colorado, and New York, and we're advancing several new bills in California. At the same time, we're continuing our work in Congress and with federal regulatory agencies, and we are expanding our work and influence in both the United Kingdom and Europe.
The second part of our team's mission is to amplify the work that Common Sense does overall. Because our team talks with lawmakers, the news media, organizations, and business leaders on a regular basis to get our advocacy work done, we also act as ambassadors for Common Sense's educational curriculum, media ratings and reviews, and our high level view about the need for kids to have a healthy media and technology diet.
We look for connections other teams here can make to continue to elevate Common Sense as the go-to resource for parents, teachers, policymakers, and journalists, regarding the digital well-being for kids and families. And it works both ways: Common Sense's trustworthy and independent brand opens a lot of doors for our policy work.
What is the most inspiring work your team is doing this year?
Well, first off, we are very excited about the big win we helped to achieve in New York this year, passing two groundbreaking privacy and social media accountability laws. And seeing the privacy and social media bill advance in the U.S. Senate this summer has been tremendous. In California, we're particularly excited about getting the issue of artificial intelligence and kids' safety and privacy on the legislative scoreboard. AI is new to most policymakers, and frankly to most Americans, so we play an important role in bringing new issues to the table that other people are not raising.
We must avoid the mistakes we made with social media. When it first came on the scene, everyone said, "This is amazing!" Then we all started using it before guardrails were established. And now here we are, 20 years later, with enormous benefits from the internet to be sure, but at the same time, a national conversation is taking place about the role that social media plays in today's youth mental health crisis. We're getting policymakers to realize that kids may need special protections around AI, whether at home or in school.
What's one key issue in kids' digital media that you think needs more attention?
There is an important question of who is responsible for ensuring a healthier and safer tech space for kids. Is it the parents' responsibility, the government's, or industry's? Social media companies claim they're doing a great job and say it's parents' responsibility to protect their kids. That's a clever message, but we don't agree.
It is our view that parents do play the most important role in their children's lives, but the matchup is inherently unfair: The technology behind social media and cell phones is so powerful that the companies know it is an unfair battle between what they can influence kids and teens to do online and how much time they can keep kids engaged, versus what their parents can do to limit it. Not only are parents outmatched against the companies, they are sometimes outmatched against their own kids who often know how to undo or evade parent control features.
We've also always advocated for more research on the health effects of digital media and technology on kids and teens, and thanks to a law we helped to pass in 2022, there's now a specific program at the National Institute of Mental Health called the Impact of Technology and Digital Media on Child and Adolescent Development and Mental Health.
And, of course, we do our own research at Common Sense that informs the public debate on these important issues. But we also know so much already that we need to make sure lawmakers force companies to change their design features and practices to better protect young people. The companies will never make these needed changes on their own because they make so much money off of keeping kids hooked on their devices and apps.
What's something you do in your current role that most people wouldn't know, or that might surprise people?
We translate. We translate very complex issues into a format that most people can understand. And we translate the concerns of parents and teachers and young people into a format that lawmakers can hear and respond to. We try to avoid jargon in communications with the public, but at the same time, we spend a lot of time making very technical contributions and suggestions in legislation to ensure that the needs of kids, parents, and teachers are served. Making the internet healthier and safer for kids is our goal, and we communicate in multiple languages to achieve that.
In this work, you also have to consume a huge amount of news and information, to stay current with developments in our issue areas, and also to understand where our issues fit into the larger context of public debate and policy.
Tech policy has been a hot area and a fast-paced space for years now, and it is only getting more so. There are a zillion online newsletters, news sites, and discussion groups to follow, and there are always new bills and laws to read and understand. A portion of my brain is always paying attention to news that is developing throughout the day because it can impact any one of our advocacy priorities.
I also follow local news in states where we are working, and I still read the print edition of The Washington Post every day. Call me old-fashioned, but I find that I absorb more information and gain a deeper understanding of important issues through print. And since not everyone gets their news online, reading print editions gives me a little more perspective on how some people are understanding current events and our issues.
Which books, shows, and movies made a lasting impression on you growing up?
A few years ago I read All the Light We Cannot See. I didn't want it to end. My father was a refugee during World War II, and the book is a beautiful and powerful story related to surviving that war.
And when I was much younger, in elementary school, the Newbery Medal-winning book Sounder was made into a movie, and that had a big impact on me. It tells the story of a Black sharecropper and his family struggling to live off the land. It was influential for me in what felt like a very real story of racial and economic injustice. The power of the relationship between the boy and his dog, Sounder, was an important vehicle to draw the reader in to relate to what was going on in that family's life.
As far as TV shows, I watched plenty as a kid, and there are a ton of good shows now for pure entertainment—like The Bear, for example. But when I was in high school, I really liked the TV drama Lou Grant, based on a hard-charging editor at the fictional Los Angeles Tribune, who showed strong morals and values at that newspaper.
Ed Asner, who played Grant, was a positive role model for me as a great actor and a strong progressive activist. His character really resonated with me about the power of media, the power of journalism, and the importance of being grounded in a perspective. It's not about being biased; it's about the importance of having a clear perspective on issues that matter.
Learn more about the work Danny and his team do around tech accountability and digital equity.
Our Meet the Subject Matter Expert series uncovers our team's superpowers and showcases the unique human talent behind our mission to improve the media landscape for kids and families. See our previous articles on Amanda Lenhart, Jill Murphy, Girard Kelly, Betsy Bozdech, and Merve Lapus.
Danny oversees advocacy operations at Common Sense. He brings nearly three decades of service on Capitol Hill, including as chief of staff to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Rep. George Miller. Danny has an extensive background in policy and has worked on the winning side of a number of significant legislative battles on the Hill, which include passing the Affordable Care Act, saving the school lunch program, and protecting national parks and forests. Danny and his advocacy team lead Common Sense's efforts to close the digital divide, protect children's online data privacy, and hold social media companies accountable for making the internet healthier and safer for all kids and teens.
Tell us a little about your personal backstory and what you bring from your experience to your work at Common Sense.
My first job out of college was as a newspaper correspondent in Washington, D.C. for States News Service, localizing national news for regional and local papers. My first assignment was to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I learned early on how to translate what seem like complicated topics into relatable issues with a local perspective.
We try not to lose touch with that at Common Sense. We work hard to get our information into accessible outlets where people can see how our work benefits them day to day. I also learned, as the old expression goes, that the news never sleeps. So I tend to be on the job, even when I am not at my desk.
I operate with a sense of urgency, partly because our issues are about kids' physical and mental well-being, which is arguably a matter of life and death, and partly because I learned from Speaker Pelosi and Representative Miller the importance of time. You never have enough of it, and you do not get to control it. You have to move fast but also be accurate. Have the facts on your side and a good message to tell your story.
At the same time, I understand there is a long view. Over the course of my congressional career, many of the biggest wins I contributed to—like passing affordable health care or protecting California's fresh water supplies—took years to accomplish, even though so many Americans supported those causes. It is hard to score a quick win in the policy world, especially in Congress, but you have to keep at it.
That is certainly true in the case of tech policy, where the industry is enormously powerful, well-connected, and wealthy, because companies have unlimited money to spend to try to slow down or kill efforts to regulate them. One good example is children's privacy. The federal privacy law for kids is more than 25 years old. Common Sense has been working to update that law for more than 10 years. And just this summer, we finally got the Senate to pass a bill to improve that law. We keep tech busy, and they keep us busy. And we work together when we can. But we don't stop pushing. We have had a number of successes in the states, where it is a little easier to move bills. And we never lose our focus on Congress, but it is a slog. Along with the privacy bill I just mentioned, we also just made headway on an important social media accountability bill. So, we are seeing momentum on our side. As my old boss George Miller used to say, "If you want to get into this fight, you better bring your lunch."
Another thing that's important to me is staying honest. From my time in journalism, politics, and legislative and nonprofit advocacy, and from the way I was raised as a kid, I have always believed that there needs to be somebody who's willing to challenge orthodoxy, question conventional thinking, and keep people—including myself—honest.
How do you see Common Sense making a lasting impact?
Our team is focused on direct impact. The first part of our mission is to make material changes in kids' lives through public policy, and we have helped enact laws over the years that have done just that. For example, we led the fight to pass California's state privacy law, the CCPA. Our own research and advocacy also directly contributed to a historic investment in broadband as part of the 2021 federal infrastructure law.
And this year alone, our efforts helped pass privacy and online safety laws in Maryland, Colorado, and New York, and we're advancing several new bills in California. At the same time, we're continuing our work in Congress and with federal regulatory agencies, and we are expanding our work and influence in both the United Kingdom and Europe.
The second part of our team's mission is to amplify the work that Common Sense does overall. Because our team talks with lawmakers, the news media, organizations, and business leaders on a regular basis to get our advocacy work done, we also act as ambassadors for Common Sense's educational curriculum, media ratings and reviews, and our high level view about the need for kids to have a healthy media and technology diet.
We look for connections other teams here can make to continue to elevate Common Sense as the go-to resource for parents, teachers, policymakers, and journalists, regarding the digital well-being for kids and families. And it works both ways: Common Sense's trustworthy and independent brand opens a lot of doors for our policy work.
What is the most inspiring work your team is doing this year?
Well, first off, we are very excited about the big win we helped to achieve in New York this year, passing two groundbreaking privacy and social media accountability laws. And seeing the privacy and social media bill advance in the U.S. Senate this summer has been tremendous. In California, we're particularly excited about getting the issue of artificial intelligence and kids' safety and privacy on the legislative scoreboard. AI is new to most policymakers, and frankly to most Americans, so we play an important role in bringing new issues to the table that other people are not raising.
We must avoid the mistakes we made with social media. When it first came on the scene, everyone said, "This is amazing!" Then we all started using it before guardrails were established. And now here we are, 20 years later, with enormous benefits from the internet to be sure, but at the same time, a national conversation is taking place about the role that social media plays in today's youth mental health crisis. We're getting policymakers to realize that kids may need special protections around AI, whether at home or in school.
What's one key issue in kids' digital media that you think needs more attention?
There is an important question of who is responsible for ensuring a healthier and safer tech space for kids. Is it the parents' responsibility, the government's, or industry's? Social media companies claim they're doing a great job and say it's parents' responsibility to protect their kids. That's a clever message, but we don't agree.
It is our view that parents do play the most important role in their children's lives, but the matchup is inherently unfair: The technology behind social media and cell phones is so powerful that the companies know it is an unfair battle between what they can influence kids and teens to do online and how much time they can keep kids engaged, versus what their parents can do to limit it. Not only are parents outmatched against the companies, they are sometimes outmatched against their own kids who often know how to undo or evade parent control features.
We've also always advocated for more research on the health effects of digital media and technology on kids and teens, and thanks to a law we helped to pass in 2022, there's now a specific program at the National Institute of Mental Health called the Impact of Technology and Digital Media on Child and Adolescent Development and Mental Health.
And, of course, we do our own research at Common Sense that informs the public debate on these important issues. But we also know so much already that we need to make sure lawmakers force companies to change their design features and practices to better protect young people. The companies will never make these needed changes on their own because they make so much money off of keeping kids hooked on their devices and apps.
What's something you do in your current role that most people wouldn't know, or that might surprise people?
We translate. We translate very complex issues into a format that most people can understand. And we translate the concerns of parents and teachers and young people into a format that lawmakers can hear and respond to. We try to avoid jargon in communications with the public, but at the same time, we spend a lot of time making very technical contributions and suggestions in legislation to ensure that the needs of kids, parents, and teachers are served. Making the internet healthier and safer for kids is our goal, and we communicate in multiple languages to achieve that.
In this work, you also have to consume a huge amount of news and information, to stay current with developments in our issue areas, and also to understand where our issues fit into the larger context of public debate and policy.
Tech policy has been a hot area and a fast-paced space for years now, and it is only getting more so. There are a zillion online newsletters, news sites, and discussion groups to follow, and there are always new bills and laws to read and understand. A portion of my brain is always paying attention to news that is developing throughout the day because it can impact any one of our advocacy priorities.
I also follow local news in states where we are working, and I still read the print edition of The Washington Post every day. Call me old-fashioned, but I find that I absorb more information and gain a deeper understanding of important issues through print. And since not everyone gets their news online, reading print editions gives me a little more perspective on how some people are understanding current events and our issues.
Which books, shows, and movies made a lasting impression on you growing up?
A few years ago I read All the Light We Cannot See. I didn't want it to end. My father was a refugee during World War II, and the book is a beautiful and powerful story related to surviving that war.
And when I was much younger, in elementary school, the Newbery Medal-winning book Sounder was made into a movie, and that had a big impact on me. It tells the story of a Black sharecropper and his family struggling to live off the land. It was influential for me in what felt like a very real story of racial and economic injustice. The power of the relationship between the boy and his dog, Sounder, was an important vehicle to draw the reader in to relate to what was going on in that family's life.
As far as TV shows, I watched plenty as a kid, and there are a ton of good shows now for pure entertainment—like The Bear, for example. But when I was in high school, I really liked the TV drama Lou Grant, based on a hard-charging editor at the fictional Los Angeles Tribune, who showed strong morals and values at that newspaper.
Ed Asner, who played Grant, was a positive role model for me as a great actor and a strong progressive activist. His character really resonated with me about the power of media, the power of journalism, and the importance of being grounded in a perspective. It's not about being biased; it's about the importance of having a clear perspective on issues that matter.
Learn more about the work Danny and his team do around tech accountability and digital equity.
Marisa Naughton is senior director of marketing and communications at Common Sense. She leads thought leadership, and marketing for our advocacy and research efforts.