Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg apologises to families in fiery US Senate hearing

[Walter Hale 4]

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to families who say their children had been harmed by social media, during a fiery hearing in the US Senate.

Mr Zuckerberg - who runs Instagram and Facebook - turned to them and said "no-one should go through" what they had.

He and the bosses of TikTok, Snap, X and Discord were questioned for almost four hours by senators from both parties.

Lawmakers wanted to know what they are doing to protect children online.

It was a rare opportunity for the US senators to question tech bosses.

Mr Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew voluntarily agreed to testify - but the heads of Snap, X (formerly Twitter) and Discord initially refused and were sent government-issued subpoenas.

Behind the five tech bosses sat families who said their children had self-harmed or killed themselves as a result of social media content.

They made their feelings known throughout, hissing when the CEOs entered and applauding when lawmakers asked tough questions.

While the hearing mostly focused on the protection of children from online sexual exploitation, the questions varied widely as the senators took advantage of having five powerful executives there under oath.

TikTok's Mr Chew was asked whether his company shared US users' data with the Chinese government, which he denied.

He said "as a father of three young children myself I know the issues that we're discussing today are horrific and the nightmare of every parent" - and admitted his own children do not use TikTok because of the rules where he lives in Singapore.

But it was Mr Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, who came under the most scrutiny, as he testified before Congress for an eighth time.

At one point, Republican Senator Ted Cruz asked, "Mr Zuckerberg, what the hell were you thinking?" when he showed the tech boss an Instagram prompt that warns users they may be about to see child sexual abuse material, but asks if they would like to "see the results anyway".

Mr Zuckerberg said the "basic science behind that" is "it's often helpful to, rather than just blocking it, to help direct them towards something that that could be helpful". He also promised to "personally look into it".


During another exchange with Republican Senator Josh Hawley, Mr Zuckerberg was invited to apologise to the families sitting behind him.

He stood up, turned to the audience and said: "I'm sorry for everything you've all gone through, it's terrible.

"No-one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered."

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68161632

[pmp]

While it is, of course, tragic that any family goes through the losing of a child for ANY reason, it does seem odd to me that US politicians want to clamp down on social media more than they want to clamp down on who owns guns (and guns kill far more kids than social media does). It's so utterly hypocritical, and this entire process is just a charade of virtue signalling.

[Walter Hale 4]

While it is, of course, tragic that any family goes through the losing of a child for ANY reason, it does seem odd to me that US politicians want to clamp down on social media more than they want to clamp down on who owns guns (and guns kill far more kids than social media does). It's so utterly hypocritical, and this entire process is just a charade of virtue signalling.

Yes, well said on the one level. But you know as well as I know that "the right to bear and keep arms" is part of their constitution. Their politicians would be kiced out of office if they so much as tried to, or watered down what their constitutional rights are.

[Walter Hale 4]

@annanguyen345
14 minutes ago

Blame the parents for not actually checking what their kids have on their phone



@sirmakonza
2 hours ago

Every party involved is responsible for this situation. The User, The Government and The Companies. All three should be made to pay one-third of the total damages the court finds liable.
For example, in a case where a user dies from a drug they bought on a social network platform.
The User is responsible for seeking that which killed them.
The Government is responsible for failing to regulate the environment in the country or state.
The Company is responsible for not doing it's due diligence to block drug sales on it's platform.



@joytimmons
1 hour ago (edited)
The best solution is for parents to stop letting their children use the Internet under 18, besides blaming the companies for this situation. Parents must get their children involved in after-school activities and keep them off the platforms. I am glad I did not have social media in my teens because I would not have had time for social media because I was busy with school, working, and getting involved in after-school activities. I rather talk to people in healthy and safe environments than on the Internet. Most people I know talk to on the Internet I know. None of my future children have an Internet until they are age 18. Another solution is to have social media and dating websites shut down for good. The third solution is to ban all criminals and unstable people from using the Internet forever. Just passing the laws is not enough to stop these situations. These solutions I stated here will help us a lot.



@alisonfowler8193
5 hours ago
Wouldn't it be great if Democrats and Republicans could work together like this all the time? If they did it would be amazing.