Senators’ anger at social media chiefs boiled over on Wednesday as they struggled to contain their fury at the harm children face on tech platforms.
The Senate Judiciary Committee pressured the leaders of Meta, TikTok, X, Snapchat and Discord to answer for children who experience online bullying, sexual predators and temptation into eating disorders on their platforms.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, told Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the other social media titans that they should bear the burden of dead children on their conscience because of the trauma.
“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,” Mr. Graham said. “You have a product that’s killing people.”
Mr. Graham’s tirade was met with applause from those attending the hearing, but the top-ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee urged onlookers to save their cheers for results.
The social media leaders pledged to do more to protect children from online harm, including through new tools, dedicated personnel and more spending.
SEE ALSO: Meta’s Zuckerberg apologizes to families traumatized by social media
Mr. Zuckerberg said his platform has about 40,000 people working on safety issues and his company has spent more than $20 billion on the issues since 2016. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, spent $5 billion last year, he said.
“The difficult reality is that no matter how much we invest or how effective our tools are, there is always more to learn and more improvements to make,” the Meta boss said at the hearing. “But we remain ready to work with members of this committee, industry and parents to make the internet safer for everyone.”
Mr. Zuckerberg also addressed the representatives of families in the room who were angry at the companies and said he was committed to making progress.
Lawmakers were not swayed and sought to prevent the tech companies from appearing compassionate.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, began the hearing with a video of children and parents speaking of trauma they experienced online as a soft piano soundtrack played in the background.
When the video ended, Mr. Durbin decried the crisis of online child sexual exploitation in America.
He listed grievances against each company. He said Discord was used to abuse children, Meta enabled a network of pedophiles, Snapchat’s disappearing messages were used by criminals, TikTok was a platform for predators, and X has growing child sexual abuse material on its platform.
“Your carefully crafted algorithms can be a more powerful force on the lives of our children than even the most best-intentioned parent,” Mr. Durbin said.
The tech execs sought to acquit themselves in the court of public opinion under withering questions from lawmakers.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said his team is spending more than $2 billion this year to keep people safe. He said the average age of its more than 170 million users in the U.S. is over 30.
X has said it is taking new enforcement actions against child sexual exploitation. CEO Linda Yaccarino added that her team’s app is not the platform of choice for children.
Mr. Zuckerberg was pressured to apologize to the families of children who have suffered and paused during the hearing to speak to them.
“I’m sorry for everything that you have all gone through. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.
Lawmakers acknowledged that they have more work to do, too. They touted a series of tech-focused bills that have stalled in Congress, including the Kids Online Safety Act, shepherded by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat.
Ms. Blackburn and Mr. Blumenthal held hearings with tech representatives from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok in 2021. The resulting Kids Online Safety Act directs platforms to restrict access to minors’ data and tells the platforms to give parents new tools to control their children’s use of the platforms. The proposal also would block advertising to children for age-restricted products such as gambling and tobacco.
The bill failed to advance out of the Senate. Lawmakers reintroduced it last year.
Microsoft President Brad Smith is now pledging his support for the bill and branded it a “reasonable, impactful approach” to address risks to young people.
“It is a tailored, thoughtful measure that can support young people to engage safely online,” Mr. Smith said on X. “Microsoft supports this legislation, encourages its passage, and applauds Senators @SenBlumenthal and @MarshaBlackburn for their leadership.”
Ms. Yaccarino said the Kids Online Safety Act needed more work, but she pledged her company’s support for Mr. Durbin’s legislative efforts to reduce the spread of child sexual abuse material via the STOP CSAM Act.
The STOP CSAM Act would crack down on the proliferation of child sex abuse material online and remove legal roadblocks to child victims suing tech platforms and app stores for facilitating the abuse of minors.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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