Lawmakers on Wednesday accused the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap and Discord of creating “a crisis in America” ​​by willfully ignoring harmful content against children on their platforms, as concerns about technology’s effect on young people have surfaced .
In a highly charged 3.5-hour hearing, members of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee raised their voices and repeatedly accused the five tech leaders – who run online services that are very popular with teenagers and younger children – of prioritizing in profits over the well-being of the young. Some said the companies had “blood on their hands” and that users would “die waiting” to make changes to protect children. At one point, lawmakers compared tech companies to cigarette makers.
“Every parent in America is appalled at the garbage directed at our children,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Technology chiefs, some of whom appeared under subpoena, said they had invested billions to strengthen security measures on their platforms. Some said they supported a bill that strengthens privacy and parental controls for children, while others pointed out the mistakes of opponents. All executives emphasized that they themselves were parents.
In a stirring exchange with Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, stood up and addressed dozens of parents of victims of online child sexual exploitation.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” Mr Zuckerberg said. “No one should have to go through what your families have gone through.” He did not address whether Meta’s platforms played a role in this inconvenience, and said the company is investing in efforts to prevent such experiences.
The bipartisan hearing included growing alarm about technology’s impact on children and teens. Last year, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, identified social media as the cause of a youth mental health crisis. More than 105 million online images, videos and material related to child sexual abuse were flagged in 2023 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the federal clearinghouse for the images. Parents have accused the platforms of fueling cyberbullying and child suicides.
The issue has united Republicans and Democrats, with lawmakers pushing for a crackdown on how Silicon Valley companies treat their youngest and most vulnerable users. Some lawmakers, seizing on an issue that has angered parents, have called for measures and introduced bills to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material and hold platforms accountable for protecting young people.
Tech giants are facing increasing domestic and global scrutiny over their impact on children. Some states have enacted legislation requiring social networking services to verify the ages of their users or take other measures to protect young people, though these rules have faced legal challenges. Internet safety laws have also been passed in the European Union and Britain.
The White House also stood by Wednesday. “There is now incontrovertible evidence” that social media is contributing to the mental health crisis in young people, said Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House press secretary.
However, Wednesday’s roasting of tech leaders may not amount to much after all, if history is any guide. Meta executives have testified 33 times since 2017 on issues such as foreign agent interference in elections, antitrust and the role of social media in the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol — but no federal law has been passed to hold them accountable the technology companies. Dozens of bills have failed after partisan bickering over details and lobbying efforts by the tech industry.
David Vladek, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school and former head of consumer protection at the Federal Trade Commission, likened Congress’ actions on technology to the cartoon “Peanuts.”
“Congress consistently criticizes technology legislation that seems necessary, but I feel like Charlie Brown — every time he wants to kick the football, Lucy takes it away,” he said.
The federal government also hasn’t followed through on existing laws that could provide more resources to combat online child abuse, the New York Times found. In particular, law enforcement funding has not kept pace with the dramatic increase in online abuse reports, even though Congress has been authorized to release more money.
On Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg testified before Congress for the eighth time. Shou Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, returned as a witness less than a year after appearing at a hearing. Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, and Jason Citron, CEO of Discord, testified for the first time after being subpoenaed by lawmakers.
Lawmakers have focused on the harmful effects of social media on children since 2021, when a whistleblower from Meta, Frances Haugen, revealed internal documents that showed the company knew its Instagram platform was exacerbating body image issues among teenagers. The Senate Judiciary Committee has since held several hearings with tech executives, sex-exploitation experts and others to highlight the dangerous activity for children online.
Before Wednesday’s hearing began, lawmakers released internal emails between top Meta executives, including Mr. Zuckerberg, that showed his company had rejected calls to raise funds to fight child safety issues.
The hearing, held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, began with a video of child sex victims who said tech companies failed them. In a rare show of agreement, Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee took turns accusing tech leaders of knowing about the harm children face on their platforms.
“The continued pursuit of corporate tyranny and profit over basic safety has put our children and grandchildren at risk,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee’s chairman and an Illinois Democrat.
At one point, Senator Hawley told Mr Zuckerberg: “Your product is killing people.”
Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Chew have received the most attention, with lawmakers warning them that they do not support child safety legislation. After lawmakers pressed Mr. Spiegel about the problem of drug sales on Snapchat, he apologized to parents whose children died of fentanyl overdoses after buying the drugs through the platform.
“I’m very sorry that we weren’t able to prevent these tragedies,” he said, adding that Snap blocks drug-related search terms and cooperates with law enforcement.
Lawmakers also focused on proposals that would expose the platforms to lawsuits by repealing a 1996 statute, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects Internet companies from liability for content on their websites.
“Nothing is going to change unless we open the courthouse doors,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota. “Money talks even louder than we talk up here.”
At times, lawmakers have wandered into areas unrelated to child safety. Mr. Chew, in particular, has faced questions about how TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, handles US user data. He was also pressed for a report that a TikTok lobbyist in Israel resigned this week over allegations that the platform discriminated against Israelis.
Conspicuously absent from the hearing was the most popular app for teenagers: YouTube. Seven out of 10 teenagers use YouTube daily, according to the Pew Research Center. TikTok is used daily by 58 percent of teens, followed by Snap at 51 percent and Instagram at 47 percent.
In 2022, YouTube reported more than 631,000 pieces of content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to a report prepared by Google.
Apple was also absent. The company has angered child safety groups for going back on a 2021 promise to scan iPhones for child abuse.
YouTube and Apple were not invited to the hearing. A spokesman for the judiciary said the five executives who testified represented a diverse group of companies.
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s hearing, some of the tech companies announced changes to their children’s services. Meta introduced stricter controls on instant messages for teenagers and greater parental control. Snap announced its support for the Children’s Online Safety Act, which proposed legislation to limit data collection on children and strengthen parental controls on social media.
In front of the Capitol building on Wednesday, a nonprofit critical of big tech displayed cardboard cutouts of Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Chu sitting atop a mountain of cash while clinking champagne glasses. Inside the hearing room, parents held up photos of victims of online child sexual exploitation.
Mary Rodee, a parent in the hearing room, said she lost Riley, her 15-year-old son, in 2021 to sexual exploitation on Facebook Messenger. Since then he has campaigned for legislation to protect children online.
“Companies are not doing enough,” he said. “Enough talking.”
Kate Conger, Michael H. Keller, Mike Isaac, Sapna Maheshwari, Natasha Singer and Michael D. Shear contributed to the report.
