WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The Senate Judiciary committee grilled the chief executives of five big tech companies on Wednesday about how their platforms are hurting children.
Republicans and Democrats say social media companies need to do more to safeguard children from the online world.
Senators didn’t hold back during Wednesday’s hearing telling the executives of the largest tech companies that they are directly to blame for the dangers kids face online.
Republicans and Democrats blasted the CEOs of TikTok, X, Meta, Snap, and Discord for not doing enough to keep kids safe.
“The Internet is dangerous, including your platforms,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.).
Senators singled out Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for Instagram’s lack of safety tools to protect young users from explicit content.
“You have blood on your hands,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Zuckerberg stood up and turned to the parents in the audience who say Instagram contributed to their children’s suicide and apologized.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg and the other executives told senators their companies are already taking steps to protect minors.
“Last year, X suspended 12.4 million accounts,” said Linda Yaccarino of X.
But the CEO of TikTok admits more can be done.
No system that any one of us can build is perfect. But what we need to do is make sure that we are always improving it and testing it against bad people who may try to bypass it,” said Shou Zi Chou.
Senators say that’s not enough. They are calling on Congress to pass one of the several bipartisan bills proposed that would hold tech platforms more accountable.
“I’m so tired of this. It’s been 28 years since the Internet and we haven’t passed any of these bills because everyone is double talk, double talk. It’s time to actually pass them, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
Klobuchar says the reason those bills haven’t passed Congress is because of big tech companies’ opposition.