During a congressional hearing, Mark Zuckerberg and other social media leaders were criticized for not doing enough to protect children online. Lawmakers played videos of people sharing their experiences of being sexually exploited on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Senator Lindsey Graham accused Zuckerberg of having “blood on his hands” and stated that the products are harming people. Senator Dick Durbin also criticized the platforms for failing to safeguard children from online exploitation.
Durbin mentioned that Discord, Instagram, and Snapchat have been involved in child exploitation cases. The CEOs of these platforms emphasized their commitment to child safety and working with various stakeholders to protect minors. Meta invested $5 billion in safety and security, while TikTok plans to spend $2 billion in 2024. Zuckerberg acknowledged the experiences of victims and highlighted the importance of their investments. However, he declined to establish a victim’s compensation fund. Zuckerberg also disputed a direct link between Facebook and teen mental health, while TikTok stated their strict policy against children under 13 using their app. X (formerly known as Twitter) mentioned that they don’t cater to minors.
Evan Spiegel, chief executive at Snap, apologized to parents whose kids overdosed on fentanyl after buying drugs on Snapshot. “I’m so sorry that we have not been able to prevent these tragedies,” said Spiegel, who added that Snap blocks search terms linked to drugs and works with law enforcement.
Child health advocates say social media companies have failed repeatedly to protect minors.
“When you’re faced with really important safety and privacy decisions, the revenue in the bottom line should not be the first factor that these companies are considering,” said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.”
Meta is being sued by dozens of states that say it deliberately designs features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms and has failed to protect them from online predators.
New internal emails between Meta executives released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office show Nick Clegg, president of global affairs, and others asking Zuckerberg to hire more people to strengthen “wellbeing across the company” as concerns grew about effects on youth mental health.
A growing number of lawmakers are urging measures to curb the spread of child sexual abuse images online and to make the tech platforms accountable for better safeguarding children. Wednesday’s session is part of an effort to pass legislation after years of inaction by Congress in regulating social media companies.
Spiegel expressed his support for a federal bill that would hold apps and social platforms accountable for recommending harmful content to minors. Yaccarino also backed the Stop CSAM Act, which would allow victims of child exploitation to sue tech companies. Some Republican lawmakers questioned Chew’s stance on China, asking if he was afraid of losing his job for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party.
