Mark Zuckerberg got grilled during a fiery Senate hearing on online child sex abuse – with one lawmaker declaring that he has “blood on his hands” and one other decrying a surge of “financial sextortion” of youngsters who use social media apps.
The billionaire boss of Meta, which faces multiple lawsuits over allegedly exposing younger users to harm on Facebook and Instagram, was repeatedly singled out on Wednesday by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the hot-button subject.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the businesses before us – I do know you don’t mean for it to be so – but you might have blood in your hands,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham said. “You will have a product that’s killing people.”
In a rare show of bipartisan unity, the Senate panel’s members expressed support for a handful of bills aimed toward stopping sex- and drug-related abuse on online platforms – and ripped the executives within the room for his or her inaction.
The panel’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, called the situation as a “crisis in America.”
He highlighted disturbing episodes during which children had fallen victim to “financial sextortion,” during which criminals tricked them into sending explicit videos and threatened to release them unless the victims sent money.
“Their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety of all put our children and grandkids in danger,” Durbin said.
Durbin also blasted among the tech CEOs over a cynical effort to update safety policies just days before the executives would should “justify their lack of motion to this committee.”
In one other tense moment, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz rebuked Zuckerberg for instances during which Instagram displayed a warning screen alerting users that they may be interacting with images of kid sex abuse – but allow them to access the content anyway.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, what the hell were you considering?” Cruz said.
Graham, the panel’s rating Republican member called for the repeal of Section 230, which protects social media firms from liability, in order that sex abuse victims could hold corporations legally accountable.
Zuckerberg and the highest bosses from TikTok, Snap, X and Discord were grilled in a packed room in Washington that included parents and relations who silently held up photos of victims of online child sex exploitation.
The hearing began with a brief reel of victims and their parents discussing their tragic experiences – with one declaring that “Big Tech did not protect me.”
“I used to be sexually exploited on Facebook,” said one child within the video, who appeared in shadow.
Within the hearing room, dozens of oldsters stood waiting for the CEOs to enter, holding pictures of their children.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Discord CEO Jason Citron and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, were issued subpoenas to compel their appearance, while Zuckerberg and Chew appeared voluntarily.
Zuckerberg sought to focus on Meta’s efforts to deal with concerns, including greater than $20 billion in safety and security spending since 2016.
“Overall, teens tell us that it is a positive a part of their lives, but some face challenges online, so we work hard to offer parents and teenagers support and controls to scale back potential harms,” Zuckerberg said.
During one charged moment on the hearing, Graham asked Zuckerberg what he would say to to the family of South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey, whose son died by suicide after being sexually extorted on Instagram.
“It’s terrible,” Zuckerberg said. “Nobody should should do something like that.”
Chew, who was grilled over China-owned TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government through its parent company ByteDance, said his company has spent greater than $2 billion this yr alone on “trust and safety efforts” and tapped 40,000 employees to work on the difficulty.
“We make careful product design decisions to assist make our app inhospitable to those searching for to harm teens,” Chew said in prepared remarks at the beginning of the hearing.
X’s Yaccarino pointed to the corporate’s support the STOP CSAM Act, which might allow online child sex abuse victims to sue social media platforms and app stores.
With Post wires
Mark Zuckerberg got grilled during a fiery Senate hearing on online child sex abuse – with one lawmaker declaring that he has “blood on his hands” and one other decrying a surge of “financial sextortion” of youngsters who use social media apps.
The billionaire boss of Meta, which faces multiple lawsuits over allegedly exposing younger users to harm on Facebook and Instagram, was repeatedly singled out on Wednesday by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the hot-button subject.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the businesses before us – I do know you don’t mean for it to be so – but you might have blood in your hands,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham said. “You will have a product that’s killing people.”
In a rare show of bipartisan unity, the Senate panel’s members expressed support for a handful of bills aimed toward stopping sex- and drug-related abuse on online platforms – and ripped the executives within the room for his or her inaction.
The panel’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, called the situation as a “crisis in America.”
He highlighted disturbing episodes during which children had fallen victim to “financial sextortion,” during which criminals tricked them into sending explicit videos and threatened to release them unless the victims sent money.
“Their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety of all put our children and grandkids in danger,” Durbin said.
Durbin also blasted among the tech CEOs over a cynical effort to update safety policies just days before the executives would should “justify their lack of motion to this committee.”
In one other tense moment, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz rebuked Zuckerberg for instances during which Instagram displayed a warning screen alerting users that they may be interacting with images of kid sex abuse – but allow them to access the content anyway.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, what the hell were you considering?” Cruz said.
Graham, the panel’s rating Republican member called for the repeal of Section 230, which protects social media firms from liability, in order that sex abuse victims could hold corporations legally accountable.
Zuckerberg and the highest bosses from TikTok, Snap, X and Discord were grilled in a packed room in Washington that included parents and relations who silently held up photos of victims of online child sex exploitation.
The hearing began with a brief reel of victims and their parents discussing their tragic experiences – with one declaring that “Big Tech did not protect me.”
“I used to be sexually exploited on Facebook,” said one child within the video, who appeared in shadow.
Within the hearing room, dozens of oldsters stood waiting for the CEOs to enter, holding pictures of their children.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Discord CEO Jason Citron and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, were issued subpoenas to compel their appearance, while Zuckerberg and Chew appeared voluntarily.
Zuckerberg sought to focus on Meta’s efforts to deal with concerns, including greater than $20 billion in safety and security spending since 2016.
“Overall, teens tell us that it is a positive a part of their lives, but some face challenges online, so we work hard to offer parents and teenagers support and controls to scale back potential harms,” Zuckerberg said.
During one charged moment on the hearing, Graham asked Zuckerberg what he would say to to the family of South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey, whose son died by suicide after being sexually extorted on Instagram.
“It’s terrible,” Zuckerberg said. “Nobody should should do something like that.”
Chew, who was grilled over China-owned TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government through its parent company ByteDance, said his company has spent greater than $2 billion this yr alone on “trust and safety efforts” and tapped 40,000 employees to work on the difficulty.
“We make careful product design decisions to assist make our app inhospitable to those searching for to harm teens,” Chew said in prepared remarks at the beginning of the hearing.
X’s Yaccarino pointed to the corporate’s support the STOP CSAM Act, which might allow online child sex abuse victims to sue social media platforms and app stores.
With Post wires
