Social media bosses were told “you have blood on your hands” as they were targeted for the dangers their platforms pose to children.
The heads of social media giants Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat are being scrutinized by the US Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was sworn in before lawmakers on Wednesday along with the four other tech titans.
“Previous scientific work has shown no causal link between social media use and poorer mental health in young people,” he claimed in his opening speech.
Twitter's Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel and Discord's Jason Citron will also testify.
Senator Lindsay Graham began the session with a rousing rebuke of all five tech bosses, accusing their platforms of killing young people, but focused on meta.
The heads of social media giants Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat are being questioned by Congress over the dangers their platforms pose to children
Senator Lindsay Graham began the session with a rousing rebuke of all five tech bosses who accused their platforms of killing young people
“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don't mean it, but you have blood on your hands,” he said.
“You have a product that kills people.” When we had cigarettes that killed people, we did something about it – maybe not enough.
“You're going to talk about guns, we have the ATF…” [but] “There’s nothing here, there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it (social media), you can’t be sued.”
Senator Graham said internal meta emails showed that Zuckerberg had been warned about the dangers of his apps but decided not to hire 45 people to “better monitor this.”
“So the bottom line is you can't be sued. You should be, and these emails would be great for punitive damages, but the courtroom is closed to every American who is being abused by every company before me,” he continued.
He said social media was the last industry to which he would grant blanket immunity and it was time to repeal laws that would provide that.
The tech bosses have been summoned by the US Senate Judiciary Committee, where they will be questioned about the impact of social media in a session titled “Big Tech and the online child sexual exploitation crisis.”
The hearing could be grueling for leaders as they face political anger for not doing enough to prevent online dangers to children, including from sex predators.
“There are no tools to hold the company accountable.” “Instead, it is left to survivors and advocates to ask these companies to prioritize safety over profit,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee.
Zuckerberg said he is proud of his teams' work to improve online child safety, not just on our services but across the internet.
Shou claimed the average American TikTok user is over 30, but admitted that many children use the platform.
Ahead of her statement, Meta and X, formerly Twitter, announced new measures to counter any political opposition.
Meta, which owns the world's leading platforms Facebook and Instagram, said it would block direct messages sent from strangers to young teenagers.
By default, teens under 16 can now only receive messages from or be added to group chats from people they already follow or are connected to.
Meta also tightened content restrictions for teens on Instagram and Facebook, making it harder for them to view posts about suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.
There's more to come.