Meta, TikTok and other social media CEOs testify in heated Senate hearing on child exploitation
Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying. These are just some of the issues young people are dealing with on social media 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and children's advocates and lawmakers say companies are not doing enough to protect them.
On Wednesday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify as lawmakers and parents grow increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people바카라 게임 웹사이트s lives.
The hearing began with recorded testimony from kids and parents who said they or their children were exploited on social media. Throughout the hours-long event, parents who lost children to suicide silently held up pictures of their dead kids.
바카라 게임 웹사이트They바카라 게임 웹사이트re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online,바카라 게임 웹사이트 U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said in opening remarks. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In a heated question and answer session with Mark Zuckerberg, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Meta CEO if he has personally compensated any of the victims and their families for what they have been through.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I don't think so,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Zuckerberg replied.
바카라 게임 웹사이트There's families of victims here,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Hawley said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Would you like to apologize to them?바카라 게임 웹사이트
As parents rose and held up their children's pictures, Zuckerberg turned to face them and apologized for what they have been through.
Video below: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to families during Senate hearing on child exploitation
Hawley continued to press Zuckerberg, asking if he'd take personal responsibility for the harms his company has caused. Zuckerberg stayed on message and repeated that Meta's job is to 바카라 게임 웹사이트build industry-leading tools바카라 게임 웹사이트 and empower parents.
바카라 게임 웹사이트To make money,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Hawley cut in.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, echoed Durbin's sentiments and said he's prepared to work with Democrats to solve the issue.
바카라 게임 웹사이트After years of working on this issue with you and others, I바카라 게임 웹사이트ve come to conclude the following: social media companies as they바카라 게임 웹사이트re currently designed and operate are dangerous products," Graham said.
He told the executives their platforms have enriched lives but that it is time to deal with 바카라 게임 웹사이트the dark side.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Beginning with Discord바카라 게임 웹사이트s Jason Citron, the executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they바카라 게임 웹사이트ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors.
Snapchat had broken ranks ahead of the hearing and began backing a federal bill that would create a legal liability for apps and social platforms who recommend harmful content to minors. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reiterated the company바카라 게임 웹사이트s support on Wednesday and asked the industry to back the bill.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said TikTok is vigilant about enforcing its policy barring children under 13 from using the app. CEO Linda Yaccarino said X, formerly Twitter, doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t cater to children.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We do not have a line of business dedicated to children,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Yaccarino said. She said the company will also support Stop CSAM Act, a federal bill that make it easier for victims of child exploitation to sue tech companies.
Yet child health advocates say social media companies have failed repeatedly to protect minors.
바카라 게임 웹사이트When you바카라 게임 웹사이트re 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.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Republican and Democratic senators came together in a rare show of agreement throughout the hearing, though it바카라 게임 웹사이트s not yet clear if this will be enough to pass legislation such as the Kids Online Safety Act, proposed in 2022 by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
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 Blumenthal바카라 게임 웹사이트s office show Nick Clegg, president of global affairs, and others asking Zuckerberg to hire more people to strengthen "wellbeing across the company바카라 게임 웹사이트 as concerns grew about effects on youth mental health.
바카라 게임 웹사이트From a policy perspective, this work has become increasingly urgent over recent months. Politicians in the U.S., U.K., E.U. and Australia are publicly and privately expressing concerns about the impact of our products on young people바카라 게임 웹사이트s mental health,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Clegg wrote in an August 2021 email.
The emails released by Blumenthal바카라 게임 웹사이트s office don바카라 게임 웹사이트t appear to include a response, if there was any, from Zuckerberg. In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal released the Facebook Files, its report based on internal documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who later testified before the Senate.
Meta has beefed up its child safety features in recent weeks, announcing earlier this month that it will start hiding inappropriate content from teenagers바카라 게임 웹사이트 accounts on Instagram and Facebook, including posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. It also restricted minors' ability to receive messages from anyone they don바카라 게임 웹사이트t follow or aren바카라 게임 웹사이트t connected to on Instagram and on Messenger and added new 바카라 게임 웹사이트nudges바카라 게임 웹사이트 to try to discourage teens from browsing Instagram videos or messages late at night. The nudges encourage kids to close the app, though it does not force them to do so.
Video above: The good, the bad and the ugly: Facebook's 20th anniversary
But child safety advocates say its actions from the companies has fallen short.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Looking back at each time there has been a Facebook or Instagram scandal in the last few years, they run the same playbook. Meta cherry picks their statistics and talks about features that don바카라 게임 웹사이트t address the harms in question,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at the social media giant known for his expertise in curbing online harassment who recently testified before Congress about child safety on Meta's platforms.
Google's YouTube is notably missing from the list of companies called to the Senate Wednesday even though more kids use YouTube than any other platform, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew found that 93% of U.S. teens use YouTube, with TikTok a distant second at 63%.