Mark Zuckerberg was heckled during a Senate hearing today.
The tech giant was invited along with other social media platforms to a hearing to discuss the role the companies play in online child sexual exploitation. However, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was speaking, he was heckled by parents of deceased or exploited children.
Parents and caregivers stood holding photos of their children ‘hissed’ at the billionaire when he entered the chamber. NBC News reports some families who went to the Senate hearing today blame Instagram, a Meta company, responsible for facilitating the abuse and suicide of their loved ones.
During his opening statement, Zuckerberg acknowledged the families who were in the room. He said: “I want to recognize the families that are here today, who have lost a loved one or lived with some terrible things, that no family should have to endure.”
“No thanks,” someone from the audience called out for all to hear.
Hours before the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee, conducting the event, released emails from Meta showing Mark Zuckerberg had rejected requests from leadership to expand the company’s child safety team.
In one email correspondence, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s Global Affairs President, wrote to the CEO the company was falling short of its bullying and harassment prevention targets. Clegg warned the company was at risk of seeing backlash from regulators.
The committee hosted the hearing, called, Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis, after authoring legislation aimed at improving the protection for victims. A new Act has been proposed, the STOP CSAM Act (Child Sexual Abuse Material), granting victims the right to sue social media companies in a civil suit, if platforms were used to facilitate abuse and exploitation. Another, EARN IT Act, is a separate bill, looking to dissolve protections form liability granted to tech platforms.
But Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t the only one at the hearing today.
Twitter’s (X) CEO Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, Discord CEO Jason Citron as well as Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, were in attendance.
However, YouTube and Google were absent from the hearing.
Mark Zuckerberg had a tough time during the proceedings, as at one point Sen. Josh Hawley appeared to persuade the tech CEO to stand up to apologize to the families present.
“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered and this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer,” he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham accused him of having a product that is “killing people”.
He said: “Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us – I know that you don’t mean it to be so – but you have blood on your hands. You have a product that’s killing people.” His statement was met with applause.
Graham also quizzed Zuckerberg following the death of South Carolina State Rep. Brandon Guffey, whose son Gavin, died in 2022 at age 17 by suicide. Gavin had been the victim of a sexual extortion scam on Instagram. On Tuesday, Brandon Guffey sued the Meta brand, alleging they were not doing enough to protect teenager’s safety and welfare.
“Do you think [Guffey] should be allowed to sue you?” Graham asked.
“I think they can sue us,” Zuckerberg replied
If you have been affected by issues in this story. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you. In the UK, people can contact the Samaritans for free on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.
