February 17th, 2024
By Changwon(Luke) Choi
On January 31, 2024, a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation took place, featuring the testimony of five prominent tech CEOs: Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Evan Spiegel of Snap, Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, Linda Yacarino of X, and Jason Citron of Discord. The hearing was part of the Committee's ongoing efforts to examine and address the risks and harms that children face in the online world.
The hearing room was packed with victims of social media abuse, who held up photos of their children and demanded accountability from the tech giants. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Ranking Member of the Committee, opened the hearing by saying, "You have blood on your hands. You are making products that kill people." He accused the CEOs of failing to protect children from predators, bullies, and extremists on their platforms.
The hearing focused heavily on criticizing Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram and has about 2 billion users worldwide. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), reports of child sexual abuse material on online platforms reached an all-time high last year, with over 20 million cases reported on Facebook alone.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri asked Zuckerberg to apologize to the victims of his product and to compensate the families of the victims. He also urged him to support the bipartisan legislation reported by the Committee, such as the STOP CSAM Act and the EARN IT Act, which aim to increase transparency and accountability for online platforms. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas criticized Instagram for failing to protect children from pornographic content, while Senator John Kennedy of the same party said that Meta "makes users see only one side of an issue and that the platform obscures the truth."
Zuckerberg apologized to some of the families, calling the incident "horrible" and "important for everything you've gone through." He said, “No one should have to go through what your family went through, and that’s why we’re investing so much. We will continue to work to prevent what your family had to go through in the future.” He also defended his company's efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation, such as using artificial intelligence, reporting to law enforcement, and collaborating with other platforms. He said he was open to working with Congress on reasonable regulations, but expressed concerns about some of the proposed bills, such as the EARN IT Act, which he said could undermine encryption and privacy.