“You and your companies, we know this is not your intention, but your hands are stained with blood. “They make a product that kills people.” The broadside that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham fired in his speech to enthusiastic applause from the public was just a foretaste of the hostility expressed by the CEOs of the largest social networks at the hearing this Wednesday in the Upper House of Congress about the expected exploitation of minors on the Internet and the need to introduce laws against predators on these platforms.
Sexual predators are one of the major problems children and young people face on social networks. Others are the impossible standards of beauty and happiness; depression, mental disorders and eating disorders; The usage mechanisms and algorithms are aimed at creating addiction or cyberbullying, according to parents, professional organizations and lawmakers, who accuse the companies of not doing enough to protect minors and lining their pockets thanks to this lack of control.
Invited to the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting were Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, Facebook's parent company; Linda Yaccarino, from X; Shou Zi Chew from TikTok; Jason Citron from Discord and Evan Spiegel from Snap. Behind them is the most hostile public of all: parents of children who were victims of online abuse and ultimately committed suicide because of the harassment they were subjected to on these platforms.
“These are families who have lost their children,” shouted Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. “These are families from across the country whose children have self-harmed, who have suffered from low self-esteem, who have been sold deadly pills on the Internet… The Internet is a dangerous place for children, and its platforms are dangerous places.” for Children.”
“There is no tool to hold companies accountable. Instead, 'survivors' and their advocates are forced to call on companies to put safety over profits,” said Dick Durbin, chairman of the committee, in his speech at the start of the meeting. The Democratic lawmaker cited data from the NGO National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that suggests sexual extortion, known as “sextortion,” in which a predator tricks a minor into sending him explicit images, has skyrocketed in the past year .
“This alarming increase in child sexual exploitation is fueled by one thing: changes in technology,” Durbin noted.
None of those who appeared were treated with white gloves. But most of the rhetorical slaps went to Zuckerberg as Instagram boss and to Shou Zi Chew, who was asked to make all sorts of statements about the Chinese-owned company and the influence that Beijing exercises or could exert over its operations.
One of the most dramatic moments of the hearing came immediately after senators showed a video in which several children described the trauma they experienced as victims of abuse and harassment on social media. Republican Senator Josh Hawley turned to Zuckerberg and asked him: “Now would you like to apologize to the victims who were harmed by your product?” You are here, live on television, would you like to apologize to them?” The Facebook Founder stood and addressed parents who were holding photos of their deceased children.
“I'm sorry for everything you've been through. “No one should have to suffer the suffering of their families, and that is why we are investing so much and continuing to make efforts across the industry to ensure that no one has to suffer the suffering of their families,” Zuckerberg explained.
His words did not seem to reassure the senators. Texan Ted Cruz criticized that Instagram notifications about possible illegal sexual content included a button that allowed you to “view the content anyway.” “Mr Zuckerberg, what the hell were you thinking?” the lawmaker asked him, visibly outraged.
The executive's response: “The basic science behind it is that when searching for something problematic, it often helps to not just block the search, but point them to something that might be useful to entice them to help.” To that, Cruz responded that while it makes sense to include a button that provides information about why this search might be problematic, “in what universe is there a link to 'Show results anyway'?” And Zuckerberg again: “Well, because we could be wrong.”
For his part, Chew returned to the Capitol for the first time in ten months. In March last year, during his first appearance before Congress, he faced a wave of criticism and questions about the damage that TikTok, one of the most popular apps in the United States, could do to the mental health of young people. . This time it wasn't much different.
“We have made careful product design decisions to make our app inhospitable to those who wish to harm teenagers,” the Singaporean executive said. According to him, the company's policies prohibit any content that “puts youth at risk of exploitation or other harm, and we enforce these policies vigorously.”
TikTok, one of the most popular and despised apps in the United States, plans to invest nearly $2 billion to implement a plan to protect minors on its platform. According to Chew, this social network has 170 million users in the United States, twenty million more than estimated ten months ago.
In 2009, barely half of U.S. adults used smartphones. In 2012, half of teenagers were already on social networks. Today, 95% of young people use one of these digital platforms. And a third of boys aged 13 to 17 admit to using them all the time. At the same time, the number of young people admitting to experiencing symptoms of depression has skyrocketed: 40% of high school students in the United States say they have felt so low that sadness has prevented them from achieving their goals to engage in normal study or sports activities for at least a year, at least two weeks, according to the latest edition of the biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey study prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Psychologists also speak of an increase in eating disorders or anxiety among young people and an increasing number of minors coming to the emergency room after intentionally harming themselves.
So far, the US Congress is considering several bills aimed at improving the protection of minors on social networks, although none have been passed so far. Something that senators like Democrat Amy Klobuchar attributed at least in part to the pressure exerted by big tech companies called to testify.
Klobuchar compared the lack of regulation in this sector to the rules that control other industries. “When a Boeing aircraft lost a door in mid-flight a few weeks ago, no one questioned the decision to ground the entire fleet of these aircraft…So why don't we take similar action with the same determination to combat the impending danger?” from these platforms when we know that children are dying there?” asked the senator. “It’s time to adopt measures.”
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