CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok grilled about online child safety at US hearing
Al Jazeera
Parents and lawmakers say executives are not doing enough to thwart dangers, including sexual exploitation and bullying.
CEOs from Meta, TikTok, X and other companies have been grilled by United States lawmakers over the dangers that children and teens face using the social media platforms.
On Wednesday, the executives testified before the US Senate Judiciary Committee amid a torrent of anger from parents and lawmakers that companies are not doing enough to thwart online dangers for children, such as blocking sexual predators and preventing teen suicide.
“They’re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online,” US Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said in opening remarks. “Their 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.”
Durbin cited statistics from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children non-profit group that showed financial “sextortion”, in which a predator tricks a minor into sending explicit photos and videos, had skyrocketed last year.
The committee also played a video in which children spoke about being victimised on the social media platforms. “I was sexually exploited on Facebook,” said one child in the video, who appeared in shadow.
