Big Tech CEOs feel pressure in tense hearing on teenage victims of social media

Five CEOs of some of the most prominent social media companies felt pressure from lawmakers and parent advocates on Wednesday at a high-profile Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, at which they were confronted about the harms suffered by teenagers on their platforms and asked to back new rules for the industry.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, and Discord CEO Jason Citron were questioned about their companies’ policies regarding teenagers and sexual content. Senators across the aisle spent their time accusing the CEOs of failing to do enough to protect teenagers and of slowing efforts to enact legislation to implement new safeguards.

“[The tech companies’] design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, and their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk,” Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in his opening remarks.

The hearing opened with a video featuring testimonies from various victims of online sexual exploitation. The hearing’s audience was filled to the brim with parent advocates, who lifted pictures of their children they said had died by suicide because of social media. The air was tense as attendees applauded Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) opening accusation that Zuckerberg has “blood on his hands.”