Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and four other leaders of social media companies are being reprimanded by lawmakers on Wednesday for not doing enough to safeguard kids online.
The Senate hearing opened with videos of people describing being sexually exploited on Facebook, Instagram and X, with Sen. Lindsey Graham telling Zuckerberg he had “blood on his hands.”
“You have a product that’s killing people,” stated Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, drawing applause and cheers from many of those attending the crowded Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The committee’s chair, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, also bashed the social media platforms for failing to protect children from being sexually exploited online.
“Discord has been used to groom, abduct and abuse children. Meta’s Instagram helped connect and promote a network of pedophiles; Snapchat’s disappearing messages have been coopted by criminals who financially sextort young victims,” Durbin said in his opening statement.
Zuckerberg and his fellow CEOs all touted their child safety procedures and vowed to work with lawmakers, parents and other technology companies to protect young people.
Meta spent $5 billion on safety and security in 2023 alone and TikTok said it plans to spend $2 billion in 2024 on the issue.
An increasing number of lawmakers are urging measures to curtail the spread of child sexual abuse images online and to make the tech platforms accountable for safeguarding children. Wednesday’s session is part of an effort to pass legislation after years of inaction by Congress in regulating social media companies.
“Big tech’s failure to protect our kids cannot go unanswered,” Durbin and Graham said in a joint statement when the hearing was announced in November.
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