Social media
Zuckerberg apologizes to parents in Senate hearing
Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, from right), Linda Yaccarino (X), Shou Zi Chew (TikTok), Evan Spiegel (Snap) and Jason Citron (Discord) at the start of the hearing in Washington. photo
© Susan Walsh/AP/dpa
The heads of several major social media companies were summoned to a US Senate hearing in Washington. The topic was the safety of minors on the platforms. The senators made violent accusations.
The hearing, which lasted several hours, dealt with problems such as the distribution of child pornography content (images of serious child sexual abuse) as well as bullying and social pressure, which leads to eating disorders.
In addition to Zuckerberg, Tiktok boss Chouzi Chew, Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel, Discord boss Jason Citron and the head of the online platform X (formerly Twitter), Linda Yaccarino, were invited to Washington. As is often the case at such hearings, the senators made strong accusations against the companies. In particular, they accused Zuckerberg’s Facebook company Meta of ignoring the safety of children and young people on the platform in the pursuit of profit. Zuckerberg rejected this.
Several laws are in the works in the US Congress that, among other things, would make it possible to hold online platforms liable for knowingly disseminating child pornographic content. The senators called on company bosses to support the bills. In the USA, online services are protected from responsibility for posts published by users – but they must take action if they become aware of illegal and problematic content. The platforms also try to proactively filter out such posts using automated software, among other things.