Meta, X, TikTok CEOs face U.S. Senate about protecting kids online
BNN Bloomberg
Leaders from five social media platforms were admonished by lawmakers at a U.S. Senate hearing to discuss child online safety, with lawmakers assailing the companies’ past efforts to protect kids and pressing them to support new legislation.
The 21-member Senate Judiciary Committee called the chief executives of Meta Platforms Inc., X, Snap Inc., Discord Inc. and TikTok to Washington in an effort to hold them accountable for their platforms’ impact on teenagers and children.
“These companies must be reined in, or the worst is yet to come,” Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the committee, said. Singling out Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, Graham said he had “blood on his hands,” detailing a story of a child who was a victim of sexual exploitation. “You have a product that’s killing people,” he added. His comments were met with an uproar of applause and cheers from advocates in attendance.
Congress has been under pressure to respond to mounting criticism of the spread of child sexual abuse material online and the tech companies’ failure to protect children from predators. They have also raised concerns about the effect social media use has on young people’s mental health.
