Zuckerberg responded to the onslaught of grief with unusual candor. In an unusual moment, he got up from his chair and apologized.
“I'm sorry for everything you've been through,” he told the families gathered at the hearing. “No one should have to go through what your family has gone through, which is why we have invested so much.”
Zuckerberg, TikTok's Show Zhi Choo, The tense exchange interrupted an unusually poignant session that lasted nearly four hours as he tried to reassure her.
Congress has held dozens of public hearings with tech executives in recent years, but the emotional sessions have highlighted lawmakers' growing desperation and efforts to pass new protections for children. It highlighted the willingness to use the power of spectacle to revitalize.
Online safety laws for children have been stagnant for years. And lawmakers on Wednesday grew frustrated with the chamber's slow pace and inability to take action on the issue.
“There's been so much discussion in the hearings and popcorn throwing and all that, but I just want to get this done,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). “had enough of this.”
Senators focus on child sexual abuse material (CSAM) as support grows for stronger protections to prevent children from being exposed to harmful content online and becoming addicted to major platforms. A public hearing was convened.
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee said the hearing could be used to improve online protection, including allowing victims to sue companies for facilitation and making it harder for platforms to dismiss such lawsuits. He said he hopes this will help promote a series of bills aimed at curbing child abuse content. The committee advanced the bill with broad bipartisan support in May, but it has since stalled without a clear timeline for the bill to be considered by the full chamber.
As Congress watches, states will require tech companies to build stricter privacy and safety features into their products or give teens full access to social media without parental approval. passed a series of laws prohibiting this. But many of the most drastic measures have faced legal challenges from the tech industry or been blocked in court, which child safety advocates say highlights the need for Congressional action. claims.
Lawmakers acknowledged Wednesday that their failure to act is contributing to the ongoing problem of child abuse online. “Are we partly to blame? Absolutely,” Graham said after the hearing.
But he argued that Congress could still help rectify the problem with the support of those in attendance whose platform involved the death of a loved one.
Before the hearing began, family members in the audience made their presence felt. Minutes before the CEOs appeared to testify, dozens of grief-stricken people held up photos of family members and friends who have died from suicide, online bullying or drug exposure. The emotional show of force silenced the previously raucous hearing.
Parents organized in a group called “Parents for Safe Online Spaces” are meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to share stories of child deaths related to online content about online bullying, drug sales and suicide. .
Throughout the hearing, families and other child safety advocates jeered as senior administration officials tried to reassure lawmakers that they were committed to addressing the issue, and senators ultimately tried to He received applause after pledging to hold him accountable.
“To everyone who took pictures today, if we are successful, it means your loved one's death was not in vain,” Graham later told reporters. “My goal is to ensure that your suffering ends the potential suffering of others.”
At this Congress, several X executives, including Mr. Yaccarino, testified for the first time at the Capitol. But during the session, lawmakers repeatedly focused on Zuckerberg, who has appeared in Congress more often than any Silicon Valley chief over the past five years.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Zuckerberg touted investments in safety and recent policy changes to give parents more control over their children's data, while scrutinizing their children's ages online. He called on Congress to force app store giants like Google and Apple to play a bigger role. A Washington Post report this week revealed that the company's parental monitoring capabilities are not being properly utilized.
Yaccarino, the first X Company executive to testify since Elon Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter, is launching a new safety team in Texas to help the company respond to government reports of child abuse. highlighted plans to automate some of the reporting. Meanwhile, TikTok's Chew repeatedly emphasized that the average age of users is over 30, despite the general perception that his platform's audience skews young.
The pledge failed to impress a combative committee, and lawmakers repeatedly pressed the CEOs to take a firm stance on the bill pending in the Senate.
Some parents in attendance said they were unmoved by Zuckerberg's incriminating public comments.
Drew Harwell contributed to this report
