On January 31, 2024, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned the chief executives of five big tech companies: Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X (formerly known as Twitter), about potential harm from their products on child safety. The audience included many family members of victims harmed by social media. 

The CEOs largely responded to the intense questioning by highlighting the actions that they have been taking in order to prevent harm. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced plans to hide content from teens that it deems inappropriate. He explained the 30 tools they have built to help with reducing the harm his social media apps are causing. In addition, after pressure from Senator Josh Hawley, Zuckerberg stood up and addressed the crowd of families of victims who had suffered from using Meta’s apps. According to the New York Times, Zuckerberg stated, “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered.” 

The CEO of Snap, Evan Spiegel, also provided testimony in response to allegations of mental and physical harm due to Snapchat. Snapchat is currently facing a lawsuit from multiple parents in California who have lost their children to fentanyl poisoning and overdose of pills that were purchased on Snapchat. According to The Guardian, Spiegel stated, “I’m so sorry that we have not been able to prevent these tragedies. We work very hard to block all search terms related to drugs on our platform.” He mentioned his support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) which aims to remove “harmful ads and posts, such as addiction, eating disorders, and suicide from showing up on children’s accounts.” 

The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, was repeatedly questioned about their ties to the Chinese government. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, and has faced a lot of concern about the sharing of information with the Chinese government. In this hearing, Chew, a man who lives in Singapore, was asked if he had a Chinese passport, or Chinese citizenship to which he replied he did not. He was also questioned about the progress of the multibillion-dollar plan to wall off U.S. user data. 

One of the CEOs of X, Linda Yaccarino, spoke of support for three solutions. Firstly, Yaccarino backed KOSA along with Spiegel. Secondly, she spoke of support for the SHIELD Act which would allow criminal prosecution of people who share others private images online without consent. Finally, Yaccarino spoke of support for the Stop CSAM Act which would make it easier for tech companies to remove child sexual abuse material from platforms. 

After all of the questioning, there was not a general consensus for all companies, just individual plans. The sexual exploitation of children online is a growing problem in the U.S. and, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, in 2023 there was 100,000 daily reports of incidents. It is important to address these issues and find solutions.