Washington
CNN
—
On Wednesday, a group of social media giants was once again under scrutiny from Congress over the risks their products pose to young people.
The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X, formerly known as Twitter, are testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The hearing took on added significance Wednesday, a day after a gruesome video was posted on YouTube showing a man holding what he claims is his father's severed head. The video spread on YouTube for hours and garnered more than 5,000 views before it was removed.
The main takeaways so far are:
Meta CEO Zuckerberg apologized to the families in the hearing room, saying, “I'm sorry for the pain your families have suffered.'' This is why we have invested so much money to ensure that no one has to go through what your family went through. ”
In response, Sen. Josh Hawley called on Zuckerberg, as a billionaire, to “compensate” families whose children were affected by his platform.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday grilled the chief executives of four social media companies, saying that while they have developed products that have some positive aspects, they are “too big to bear.” He said he also has a dark side.
Graham warned that nothing will change until social media companies are sued.
“I'm tired of talking. I'm tired of arguing,” he said. “Open the courthouse doors. Until we do that, nothing will change. Until these people are sued for damages, it's all talk.”
He added, “I'm a Republican who believes in free enterprise, but I also believe that every American who's been wronged needs to go to someone to complain. There's no committee that's going to punish you.'' There's no law on the books, because you can't be sued just because you're against everything we do. It has to stop, guys.”
Mr. Graham emphasized the importance of a legal framework that holds companies accountable.
“Because for all the good, the dark side is too great to bear,” he said.
Wednesday's hearing includes theatrical elements.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, appeared visibly shaken as she shared stories of parents whose children have been harmed by social media platforms, including young people who committed suicide after being threatened by online predators. .
“I’m sick of it,” Klobuchar said. “It's been 28 years since the internet started. The reason we haven't passed these bills is because everyone is 'double-talking, double-talking.' It's time to actually outrun them. ”
Klobuchar pressed CEOs to support several proposed bills.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel agreed to support the Cooper-Davis Act, which would require platforms to report certain instances of illegal drug trafficking on their platforms to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Wednesday's hearing showed once again the breadth of criticism of social media companies among lawmakers, making it a rare bipartisan topic on Capitol Hill.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is an early example, noting that he has “very little in common” with his Democratic colleague Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and how he has a different political philosophy from Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. emphasized. But he said there is agreement on the question of how technology is impacting society.
“Elizabeth and I feel there are abuses here that need to be addressed. Although Senator Durbin and I have different political philosophies, we appreciate your hard work on this committee. has been a great partner. To my Democratic colleagues, thank you very much. To my Republican colleagues, thank you very much,” said Senator Graham.
But despite both parties' desire to go after tech platforms, Congress has yet to pass meaningful legislation to regulate social media companies.
Most of the lawsuits are in state legislatures and courts, which have become battlegrounds for new policies such as social media age limits.
In his opening remarks, Sen. Graham mentioned the state lawmaker who lost his eldest son and is currently suing Mr. Mehta.That congressman is a South Carolina congressman. Rep. Brandon Guffey.
About two weeks after her eldest son's funeral, Guffey said she received a private Instagram message with a laughing emoji.
Gavin Guffey, 17, shot himself in his bathroom in July 2022, leaving his grieving father searching for clues as to what led to his death.
Guffey and his younger son then began receiving messages demanding money in exchange for nude photos of their late son. Anyone on Gavin's Instagram followers list with the last name Guffey received similar messages, his father said.
'I have blood on my hands': Senator Graham speaks to tech CEOs
“We have blood on our hands,” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told tech CEOs in his opening remarks.
Many spectators applauded and cheered.
“You have a product that's killing people…You shouldn't be sued, you should be sued!” Graham added. “Now is the time to repeal Section 230.”
Section 230 is a federal law that gives websites and social media platforms immunity from content moderation decisions and lawsuits resulting from user-generated content.
Despite consumer groups saying social media puts young users at risk for everything from depression to bullying to sexual abuse, Congress has done little in recent years to rein in the industry. do not have. But lawmakers now say this time is different, citing a growing number of whistleblowers, consumer lawsuits and new state laws across the country.
“We're going to work hard to hold our feet to their fire,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Tuesday ahead of the hearing.
Meta, which controls Instagram and Facebook, faces particular pressure on this issue due to its size and scale, so the spotlight will be on Meta CEO Mark Zucker most of the time. Probably Mr. Berg. Popular with young users.
Mr. Zuckerberg is expected to tout more than 30 safety controls at the company, according to prepared testimony released ahead of the hearing. Still, lawmakers are likely to push for more action against Meta.
Lawmakers say the longer the platforms stall on meaningful change, the more harm they will cause and the more victims they will create.
One self-proclaimed victim of social media is Rosemary Calvoni, a woman who is suing Mehta and other social media companies over her daughter's struggle with anorexia.
Carboni accuses Mehta of leading her daughter down a rabbit hole of eating disorders that led to hospital treatment, multiple relapses, and causing her to miss “most of high school.”
“When these platforms first launched, we had no idea of the harm they could cause, not just to our daughter, but to our entire family,” Carboni said in a phone call Tuesday. he told reporters.
A new document released Wednesday by Blumenthal and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee shows that senior executives at Meta raised internal alarms about Instagram and Facebook's handling of child safety in 2021. He said he tried to ring it.
The new communication includes a warning to Zuckerberg that “we are off track” and that the company faces “increased regulatory risk” due to a lack of investment in user safety. .
Unless the company urgently hires dozens of new employees to deal with the challenge, the issue will become a public relations disaster that will negatively impact Meta's future Metaverse ambitions. executives warned.
The document was provided to lawmakers by Meta in response to an earlier request for information.
But two years after the warning, Zuckerberg instead laid off thousands of employees, including staff dedicated to user welfare. And his company faces a growing wave of litigation and regulation around the world.
Newly released communications show that Zuckerberg discussed investments in mental health by company executives, including then-chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and president of global affairs Nick Clegg. It provides some of the most concrete and direct evidence to date suggesting that efforts to increase the population have been ignored or rejected. Meta users.
Aspects of Meta's 2021 email exchanges were previously described in a lawsuit filed by the state of Massachusetts against the company, but Wednesday's release included copies of some of the communications. They detail how some within Meta described this issue as posing a risk to the company.
In an August 2021 email, Clegg discussed the potential impact of Facebook and Instagram on teens' mental health while presenting a proposal developed by Meta's health director and other vice presidents. He told Zuckerberg that a growing number of policymakers around the world are voicing concerns “publicly and privately” about the effects of gender.
Clegg and other executives have called for at least 45 new hires in 2022 to address safety issues, some of which will form a dedicated team focused on the overall health of the company's apps. He plans to do so.
Mr Clegg said Mr Zuckerberg would ideally approve as many as 124 new hires, but acknowledged financial pressures could make that difficult.
After months of radio silence from Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Clegg has attempted to follow up, this time with a slimmed-down proposal that envisions 25 new employees, or if that's not even possible, just seven. .
Mr Clegg sent a letter to Mr Zuckerberg on November 10, 2021 saying, “This would be the bare minimum needed to answer basic policymaker questions.''
Shortly afterward, Mr. Sandberg told Mr. Clegg, “I support this and I intend to follow up.”
But she also sought to meet his expectations, adding, “As you know, we have budgeting issues across the board, so I can't make any promises about what's going to happen.”
