First in the Nation: Vermont Youth Nonprofit Quits Meta to Protect Teens
Elevate Youth Services has officially quit Facebook and Instagram, becoming the first youth-serving nonprofit in Vermont—and likely the nation—to publicly stop contributing to the social media pipeline. The organization’s accounts will remain visible for wayfinding, but no staff time or resources will be used to post or manage content going forward.
This move follows Vermont’s leadership in passing H.480, the country’s first statewide law prohibiting schools from contacting students via social media and mandating phone-free school days. Elevate leaders say if schools are cutting back for the sake of student wellbeing, then youth-serving organizations must lead by example.
“We’re not here to collect likes. We’re here to show up for lives,” said Favor Ellis, Executive Director at Elevate. “We believe social media platforms—especially Instagram and Facebook—are designed to keep youth addicted, insecure, and commodified. We won’t be part of that pipeline anymore.”
From Algorithms to Actual Rooms
Instead of chasing engagement metrics, Elevate is moving entirely to community-driven, youth-approved communication channels:
Poster campaigns in corner stores, coffee shops, laundromats, and libraries—places youth already pass through every day.
Zines filled with art, poetry, resource lists, and real stories—distributed for free at drop-in spaces, schools, and community events.
Text and email updates for programs and resources.
In-person events that prioritize trust over clicks.
“Posters and zines may feel slow compared to a social media post, but that’s the point,” Ellis said. “They live in your hands, on your fridge, in your backpack. They can’t be buried by an algorithm. That’s how we are choosing to build community—not through ads, but through relationships.”
Why Now
H.480, signed into law on June 27, 2025, bans personal device use during the school day and prohibits most staff-to-student communication via social media in Vermont schools. While Vermont is not the first state to limit student cellphone use in schools, it is the first to prohibit schools from directly communicating with students via social media—and the only state to enshrine that provision into law. Other states are now considering similar measures.
“If schools are limiting social media for the sake of student wellbeing, then youth-serving organizations should lead by example,” said Ellis. “We can’t preach digital boundaries in schools and ignore them in our outreach.”
“When we crafted the phone-free schools bill, we knew the next logical step was to ensure that schools stop using social media to communicate directly with students. Elevate Youth Services clearly understood the reasoning behind this provision in the law and is demonstrating their commitment to youth wellness by moving away from social media and toward meaningful in-person connections. I encourage all youth-oriented organizations to follow Elevate’s lead to help shift the cultural norms related to social media and Big Tech’s predatory dominance in our kids’ lives,” said Vermont Representative Angela Arsenault, lead sponsor of the bill.
“As a Vermont father and the leader of a national advocacy group working to protect kids from Big Tech’s deadly business model, I commend Elevate Youth Services on quitting Facebook and Instagram. With this pioneering decision, Elevate is making clear how seriously it takes youth mental health struggles — and how dangerous social media is for minors. Between Elevate’s bold leadership, the state’s new law prohibiting phones in school and banning schools from contacting students through social media, and the Vermont Kids Code, Vermont is now the clear national leader in protecting children from social media harms,” said Josh Golin, Executive Director of Fairplay.
Recent research—including Meta’s own leaked internal documents—links social media use to worsening mental health outcomes for teens. The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that excessive social media exposure is a major driver of the youth mental health crisis.
A Call to Action
Elevate is encouraging other nonprofits and youth-centered organizations to rethink their own relationships with Big Tech and to explore what trauma-informed, ethical tech use might look like.
“If we care about youth, we have to be willing to question the platforms we use to reach them,” Ellis said. “Our hope is that by stepping away, others will follow. Social media drains youth into a pipeline of comparison and distraction. We want to redirect that energy into things that nourish—books, music, sports, nature, friendships, and the everyday textures of real life.”
