Notre Dame is launching a major effort to shape the future of social media policy and it could affect every corner of Indiana.

This week, the university is hosting lawmakers, tech leaders and scholars to draft a national roadmap for regulating platforms like Facebook and YouTube. They will focus on how social media influences democracy, civic trust, and everyday life.

David Campbell, professor and director of the Democracy Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, said the meeting is just the beginning.

“Our hope is the policy experts will hear from the scholars what the research said about the effects of social media and hopefully, the two groups together can settle on concrete recommendations that can be made,” Campbell explained.

Campbell pointed out online activity can affect Indiana communities, not just the nation. The university plans to continue this work beyond the event, with a nonpartisan focus.

Campbell stressed the university wants to turn expert research into real policy solutions that strengthen civic trust.

“This convening demonstrates Notre Dame’s commitment to being an important voice in the national conversation about the state of American civil society; in this case social media,” Campbell emphasized. “To ensure that concrete ideas are being proposed and implemented to try to get us out of the mess that we’re in.”

Notre Dame is partnering with bipartisan group Issue One on the project.