The CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X and TikTok testified before a high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee about online child exploitation. During the hearing, Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Jason Citron, Linda Yaccarino and Shou Chew spent hours being questioned by lawmakers about their child safety records.
The hearing was the first time Spiegel, Citron and Yaccarino testified before Congress. In particular, the three were summoned by the committee after tech-ceos-on-their-failure-to-protect-children-online” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:refusing;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”> appear voluntarily, according to legislators. Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin noted that Citron “only accepted subpoena services from him after U.S. Marshals were dispatched to Discord headquarters at taxpayer expense.”
The courtroom was filled with parents of children who had been victims of online exploitation on social media. Many audience members silently held photographs of their children as the CEOs entered the room, and Durbin opened the hearing with a somber video showing victims of child exploitation and their parents.
“Discord has been used to groom, kidnap and abuse children,” Durbin said. “Meta's Instagram helped connect and promote a network of pedophiles. Disappearing Snapchat messages have been co-opted by criminals who financially extort young victims. TikTok has become a preferred platform for predators to access, engage and groom children for abuse. And the prevalence of CSAM at X has increased as the company has destroyed its trusted and secure workforce.”
During the hearing, many of the senators shared personal stories of parents whose children had committed suicide after being exploited online. “Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies that came before us, I know you don't mean it, but you have blood on your hands,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in her opening remarks. The audience applauded.
While years of similar hearings have so far failed to produce any new laws, there is growing bipartisan support in Congress for the new safety rules. As technology Policy Press There are currently more than half a dozen bills related to children's online safety proposed by senators. These include the , which would require platforms to create more safety and parental control features and undergo independent audits, and a revised version of the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, which would prohibit companies collect or monetize children's data without consent.
Senators have also proposed a number of bills to address child exploitation, including the EARN IT Act, currently in effect since 2020, and the STOP CSAM Act. None of them have advanced to the Senate floor to be voted on. Many of these bills have faced intense pressure from the tech industry, although some companies present said they are open to some aspects of the legislation.
Zuckerberg suggested a different approach, saying he supported age verification and parental control requirements at the app store level, which would effectively shift the burden to Apple and Google. Meta has been under particular pressure in recent months following a lawsuit for harming the mental health of teenagers. Court documents in the lawsuit allege that Meta targeted children under 13 using his service to prevent adults from sexually harassing teenagers on Facebook and that Zuckerberg personally to stop an effort to ban plastic surgery filters on Instagram.
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