By: Sophia Kohler, Staff Writer
The recent Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on online child safety brought light to the issue of protecting minors in the media. This pivotal session aimed to confront the challenges of social platforms like Media, TikTok, and Snapchat and what the risks are for their child users online.
After a four-hour session, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on online child safety concluded with a lack of clear resolutions, marked by intense exchanges between senators and tech executives. Senators from both parties were notably aggressive in their questioning; they refused to back down as they pressured executives from Meta, X, TikTok, Discord, and Snapchat to take responsibility and apologize for their platforms’ role in causing harm to children.
One significant moment involved Senator Josh Hawley urging Mark Zuckerberg to apologize for the harm caused by Meta. In response, Zuckerberg stood, turned around, and directly addressed the families of victims in the audience who had experienced abuse on Meta’s apps. He expressed remorse, stating, “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through,” and pledged that Meta was working to prevent others from enduring similar experiences. However, he did not specifically address Meta’s role in the harm.
The two most prominent people mentioned in the hearing were Mark Zuckerberg and Shou Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, who faced extensive questioning about the number of abuse incidents on their social media platforms. Two out of the five chief executives, Evan Spiegel of Snapchat and Linda Yaccarino of X, agreed to support the Kids Online Safety Act (K.O.S.A.). This proposed legislation aims to mandate online services to implement “reasonable measures” to prevent harm, including online bullying, harassment, sexual exploitation, anorexia, self-harm, and predatory marketing that target minors using their platforms. However, Zuckerberg, Chew, and Jason Citron of Discord did not pledge their support, citing concerns about potential conflicts with free speech issues due to the legislation’s broad restrictions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on online safety ended without any clear outcomes, marked by tense exchanges that emphasizes the tension between technology executives and the demands for accountability. The absence of support from top leaders for the Kids Online Safety Act emphasized the urgent need for company actions to tackle online dangers for children in the media.
The Joritan 