Top tech executives faced a heated situation Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on children’s online safety, with lawmakers expressing frustration at the industry’s failures to police itself. Despite intense scrutiny, the hearing led to little concrete progress.
What happened: The hearing saw a dramatic apology from Meta Platform Inc. HALF CEO Marco Zuckerberg for harmful content aimed at children on social media. The CEOs of other tech giants, including Tick tock AND Discordwere also present.
Parliamentarians also participated in the hearing, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), criticizing technology platforms for their inability to effectively police themselves. “Collectively, your platforms really suck at policing themselves,” Whitehouse said.
Despite the criticism, the tech industry has largely opposed any new laws aimed at protecting children online. The CEOs have offered, at best, partial support for several bills currently stalled in the Senate, Politico reported.
During the hearing, the CEO of Linda Yaccarino he became the first platform leader to support the presidency of the judiciary By Dick Durbin (Dill.) STOP the CSAM law. This act aims to remove the liability shield of technology platforms, known as Section 230 of Communications Decency Actto allow people who have suffered online child sexual exploitation to sue the platform that distributed the material.
However, when asked what their support was for the entire set of laws, the group was largely silent or demurred. This included Yaccarino, who refused to support the EARN Take actionsponsored by Graham, which would also reduce the technology’s liability shield.
See also: Elon Musk gives a chef’s kiss while savoring Mark Cuban ‘arguing with a rabbit and losing’ over diversity debate
Because matter: The hearing is expected to be a pivotal moment in the ongoing discussion about child safety and online regulation.
Previously, Snap Inc. approved HOWEVER, affirming its alignment with current policies. In November last year, Meta passed legislation that advocates for app stores to grant parental consent for teens under 16 who download apps.
Earlier this month, Meta, the parent company he oversees Facebook AND Instagramrevealed a collaboration with the Center for Open Science provide researchers focusing on well-being with “privacy-preserving social media data”
Photo courtesy of: Anthony Ricci on Shutterstock.com
Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.
Read next: Meta gets 22% target price hike ahead of Q4 results as analyst hopes for ad market recovery and reel strength
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and has been reviewed and published by Benzinga Editors.