Tech CEOs testify in heated US hearing

Lawmakers: Social media giants failed to protect children from online dangers

WASHINGTON — United States senators grilled leaders of the biggest social media companies on Wednesday, as one lawmaker accused them of having "blood on their hands" for failing to protect children from escalating threats of sexual predation on their platforms.

The executives convened by the US Senate Judiciary Committee were put to task in a session titled "Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis".

Tech giants are confronting a torrent of political anger for not doing enough to thwart online dangers for children, including from sexual predators and teen suicide.

"Mr Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don't mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands," said Senator Lindsey Graham, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "You have a product that's killing people."

Also testifying to senators were X's CEO Linda Yaccarino, Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, Evan Spiegel of Snap and Discord's Jason Citron.

Senator Dick Durbin, the Judiciary Committee's Democratic chairman, cited figures from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that showed skyrocketing growth in financial "sextortion", in which a predator tricks a minor into sending explicit photos and videos.

"This disturbing growth in child sexual exploitation is driven by one thing: changes in technology," Durbin said.

As the hearing kicked off, the committee played a video in which children spoke about being victimized on social media.

"I was sexually exploited on Facebook," said one child in the video, who appeared in shadow.

Angry parents

In the hearing room, dozens of parents held pictures of their children who they said had been harmed because of social media. Some parents jeered at Zuckerberg, whose company owns Facebook and Instagram, during his opening statement and shouted comments at his other points during the hearing.

In a heated question and answer session with Zuckerberg, Senator Josh Hawley asked him if he has personally compensated any of the victims and their families for what they have been through.

"I don't think so," Zuckerberg replied.

"There's families of victims here," Hawley said. "Would you like to apologize to them?"

Zuckerberg stood, turned away from his microphone and directly addressed the parents in the gallery.

"I'm sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered," he said, adding that Meta continues to invest and work on "industrywide efforts" to protect children. But he stopped short of taking responsibility for facilitating the abuse, as Hawley suggested he should.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company is vigilant about enforcing its policy barring children under 13 from using the app.

Yaccarino said X, formerly Twitter, does not cater to children.

She said the company supported the Stop CSAM Act, legislation that makes it easier for victims of child exploitation to sue tech companies. The bill is one of several aimed at addressing child safety. None have become law.

X has come under heavy criticism since billionaire Elon Musk bought the service and loosened moderation policies. This week, it blocked searches for pop singer Taylor Swift after fake sexually explicit images of her spread on the platform.

Under US law, web platforms are largely shielded from legal liability in relation to content shared on their site.

While lawmakers would like to set up more rules to increase online safety, new laws have been stymied by a politically divided Washington and intense lobbying by Big Tech.