CEOs of major social media companies around the world were heard this Wednesday by the North American Congress in a hearing aimed at developing new federal legislation to protect children in the online world. The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Company X, formerly known as Twitter, Shu Chu of TikTok, Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap, the company that controls Snapchat, and Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Jason Citron, Discord, on online child sexual exploitation and removing illegal content from platforms.
In one of the most heated moments of the hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina shared the story of a young man who committed suicide after being exploited online, and concluded her presentation by addressing the creator of Facebook with a serious accusation. “Mr. Zuckerberg, I know you didn’t mean it to be this way, but you have blood on your hands. There’s a product that’s killing people,” Graham said. Committee Chairman Dick Durbin called the current scenario a “crisis” caused by technology. which gives predators “powerful new tools to target children” due to their “failure to adequately invest in safety” and their “constant search for profit.”
In the US, daily reports of online child sexual abuse have increased tenfold over the past 10 years, reaching 100,000 daily reports in 2023. The hearing comes as several parent movements are suing social media companies. Snapchat, for example, is participating in a class action lawsuit in California by parents who say they lost their children to fentanyl poisoning and overdoses from pills bought online.
Author: Vanessa Fidalgo
Source: CM Jornal
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