Zuckerberg objects to Marsha Blackburn’s characterization of Meta after the Tennessee Republican suggested Meta wants to be the “premier sex trafficking site.” Zuckerberg immediately disputed that claim, saying, “of course not, senator.”
Young advocates stood in the back of the hearing room with shirts that read “I’m worth more than $270” — part of the overall outsized crowd presence at this event. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) pointed to this group as she referenced the new set of internal Meta emails she and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released. In the internal documents, Blackburn said, Meta executives described the lifetime value of teens on their services being roughy $270 each.
After the hearing resumed following a short break, Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) accused Zuckerberg of giving her a different answer in private last night and at the hearing today. Butler asked each CEO if they had consulted with families about their product designs. Zuckerberg said at the hearing that he has over the years had such conversations. Butler said that contradicted what he previously told her.
“I must have misspoke,” Zuckerberg said of his private response.
“Have you apologized to the victims?” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) asked Zuckerberg, referring to children targeted by predators on social media. Before he could answer, several members of the audience shouted “no.”
Hawley asked if Zuckerberg would like to apologize now to the families of kids harmed by social media who were in the room. At that point, many of the advocates who stood with pictures of kids before the hearing once again rose — as Zuckerberg stood and turned back to issue an apology.
Zuckerberg sparred with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over a feature on Instagram that warns users that something they’re looking for contains child sexual abuse material. As The Wall Street Journal reported last year, the feature includes an option for the user to “See results anyway” below a link to resources. Cruz grilled Zuckerberg on why the service would include such an option, which the CEO said is because the warnings can in some cases be wrong.
Zuckerberg’s now-vast experience appearing before angry lawmakers on Capitol Hill was apparent in his responses to Cruz. As the senator continued to hammer him with questions, Zuckerberg at one point asked, “do you want me to answer your questions?” And then said, “can you give me some time to speak then?”
In their opening statements, the CEOs made their cases to lawmakers for why their platforms shouldn’t be lumped together with the others at the witness table.
X’s Yaccarino said that her platform “is not the platform of choice for children and teens. We do not have a line of business dedicated to children.” Discord’s Citron pointed to how his messaging service “differs from traditional social media” because it does not have a news feed and doesn’t sell advertising. And Chew pointed out that TikTok “was among the first to empower parents to supervise their teens on our app with our Family Pairing tools.”
The audience in the hearing room is unusually responsive as far as congressional hearings go. Opening statements were met with applause and supportive laughter in response to their admonishment of the tech CEOs and calls for stronger safeguards for kids online. It’s the kind of call and response that is more often heard in political debates, rather than during the lawmaking process.
As the room for today’s hearing filled up with members of the public, several rows of advocates stood silently and in unison with images of teens or children. They remained standing for many minutes until the chair banged the gavel.
We’re on Capitol Hill now, awaiting the testimony of the five tech CEOs: X’s Linda Yaccarino, TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Discord’s Jason Citron. People have just started to take their seats and settle in for what is likely to be a lengthy event.
