Child safety: Tech CEOs face scrutiny from U.S. senators

U.S. senators have questioned the leaders of major social media companies in their ongoing endeavour to address concerns raised by parents and mental health experts.

The focus is on whether these companies prioritize profits over implementing safeguards to ensure their platforms do not negatively impact children.

Zuckerberg testified alongside X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and Discord CEO Jason Citron.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “You have a product that’s killing people.”

Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, referenced statistics from the nonprofit group National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. These figures highlighted a concerning surge in financial “sextortion,” a predatory tactic where minors are deceived into sending explicit photos and videos.

“This disturbing growth in child sexual exploitation is driven by one thing: changes in technology,” Durbin said during the hearing.

Social media victimization

At the commencement of the hearing, the committee presented a video featuring children sharing their experiences of victimization on social media.

“I was sexually exploited on Facebook,” said one child in the video, who appeared in shadow.

In the hearing room, numerous parents held up pictures of their children, attributing harm to social media. There were audible expressions of discontent from some parents towards Zuckerberg, whose company owns Facebook and Instagram.

These sentiments were particularly evident during his opening statement, and there were intermittent shouted comments at various points throughout the hearing.

At one point, Senator Josh Hawley challenged Zuckerberg to apologize to them directly, and several people held the children’s photos aloft again as Zuckerberg turned around to address them.

Zuckerberg expressed regret about what they had experienced and pledged to work to prevent it from happening to others, but stopped short of taking responsibility for facilitating the abuse, as Hawley suggested he should.

Also Read: Meta unveils new safeguards for teens on Facebook, Instagram

Rejection of safety improvements

During a heated exchange, the committee presented copies of internal emails revealing Zuckerberg’s rejection of a request from Meta’s top policy executive to hire between 45 and 84 engineers for safety improvements.

X’s Yaccarino stated that the company supports the STOP CSAM Act, legislation introduced by Durbin. This act aims to hold tech companies accountable for child sexual abuse material and grants victims the ability to pursue legal action against tech platforms and app stores.

The bill is one of several aimed at addressing child safety. None have become law.

X, formerly Twitter, has come under heavy criticism since Elon Musk bought the service and loosened moderation policies. This week, it blocked searches for pop singer Taylor Swift after fake sexually explicit images of her spread on the platform.

Wednesday marked TikTok CEO Chew’s first appearance before U.S. lawmakers since March. During that prior session, the Chinese-owned short video app company faced tough questions, some implying that the app was negatively impacting children’s mental health.

Chew disclosed that more than 170 million Americans used TikTok monthly, 20 million more than the company said last year.

Under questioning by Graham, he said TikTok would spend more than $2 billion on trust and safety efforts, but declined to say how the figure compared to the company’s overall revenue.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, pressed Zuckerberg about warning screens on Instagram that alerted users an image might show child sexual abuse, but still allowed them to see the image.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, what the hell were you thinking?” Cruz said.

Zuckerberg responded that it can be helpful to redirect users to resources rather than blocking content, adding the company would follow up with more information about the notice.

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar questioned what she said was inaction in the tech industry, comparing it to the response shown when a panel blew out of a Boeing plane earlier this month.

“When a Boeing plane lost a door in flight several weeks ago, nobody questioned the decision to ground a fleet… So why aren’t we taking the same type of decisive action on the danger of these platforms when we know these kids are dying?” Klobuchar said.