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(The Guardian) CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord arrive in Congress
Chief executives from five major social media firms arrived in Congress on Wednesday morning to face questioning about alleged harms to young users caused by their platforms.
The hearing, titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis”, promises to “examine and investigate the plague of online child sexual exploitation”, according to a statement from the US Senate Judiciary Committee. In attendance are chief executive officers including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Linda Yaccarino of X (formerly Twitter), Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, Evan Spiegel of Snap, and Jason Citron of Discord.
In a speech on Tuesday preceding the hearing, Senator Dick Durbin said combating dangers faced by children online has been one of his “top priorities” as chair of the committee and said he plans to ask executives “what they’re doing to make their platforms inaccessible to child sex offenders”. “As recently as last week, some have launched new child safety measures that are long overdue, but it should not take a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to finally get these companies to prioritize child safety,” he said. “Because these changes are half measures at best, I welcome the opportunity to question them about what more needs to be done.”
Executives appearing in Congress are expected to highlight controls and tools introduced to manage children’s online experiences and mitigate harm. In prepared remarks, Zuckerberg stated that Meta has introduced more than 30 such tools over the last eight years, including controls that let parents set time limits for app usage and see who their children are following and engaging with online. He added that Meta has spent $20bn on safety and security since 2016 and employs around 40,000 people to address such concerns. “We’re committed to protecting young people from abuse on our services, but this is an ongoing challenge,” he said. “As we improve defenses in one area, criminals shift their tactics, and we have to come up with new responses.”
Chief executives from five major social media firms arrived in Congress on Wednesday morning to face questioning about alleged harms to young users caused by their platforms.
The hearing, titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis”, promises to “examine and investigate the plague of online child sexual exploitation”, according to a statement from the US Senate Judiciary Committee. In attendance are chief executive officers including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Linda Yaccarino of X (formerly Twitter), Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, Evan Spiegel of Snap, and Jason Citron of Discord.
In a speech on Tuesday preceding the hearing, Senator Dick Durbin said combating dangers faced by children online has been one of his “top priorities” as chair of the committee and said he plans to ask executives “what they’re doing to make their platforms inaccessible to child sex offenders”. “As recently as last week, some have launched new child safety measures that are long overdue, but it should not take a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to finally get these companies to prioritize child safety,” he said. “Because these changes are half measures at best, I welcome the opportunity to question them about what more needs to be done.”
Executives appearing in Congress are expected to highlight controls and tools introduced to manage children’s online experiences and mitigate harm. In prepared remarks, Zuckerberg stated that Meta has introduced more than 30 such tools over the last eight years, including controls that let parents set time limits for app usage and see who their children are following and engaging with online. He added that Meta has spent $20bn on safety and security since 2016 and employs around 40,000 people to address such concerns. “We’re committed to protecting young people from abuse on our services, but this is an ongoing challenge,” he said. “As we improve defenses in one area, criminals shift their tactics, and we have to come up with new responses.”
