The executive director of Meta, Mark Zuckerberghe asked sorry to a group of relatives who assure that her children were victims of sexual abuse because of the internet, but denied that the use of social networks harms the mental health of minors.
He said this during a hearing in the United States Senate, in which the CEOs of Snap, X, Discord and TikTok to analyze the actions that technology giants carry out to stop the child sexual abuse on their platforms.
Zuckenberg defended Meta against abuse allegationspointing out that there is no scientific proof that links the use of social networks with worse mental health.
“A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, which evaluated more than 300 studies, does not support the conclusion that Social networks cause changes in adolescents’ mental health“, stated the Meta manager.
A statement that caused a stir among the public, in which there was relatives of victims of harassment on social networksto whom Zuckerberg ended up publicly apologizing, at the request of the congressmen.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” said the leader of Meta, who added that no one should have suffered this “terrible” situation.
Mark Zuckerberg.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP/LaPresse
The Republican senator Lindsey Graham accused Zuckerberg of having “blood on his hands” because social networks are “dangerous products that are destroying lives and threatening democracy itself.”
In their interventions, the five witnesses acknowledged their responsibility in keep their respective communities safeso they were open to working on this issue and collaborating with legislators.
But when asked about their support for the bills that are being promoted, none of them responded clearly, so The congressmen punished his “sepulchral silence.”
“If we wait for these guys to solve the problem, we’re going to die waiting,” Graham reproached.
The CEOs of the most used social networks in the world respond to the United States Congress.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP/LaPresse
CEOs of TikTok, X, Snap and Discord also defend themselves against the accusations
On behalf of X, its executive director, Linda Yaccarinojustified that “less than 1% of X users are between 13 and 17 years old”, so he moved away from the problem discussed.
For his part, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Chewpointed out that “intends to invest more than $2 billion this year alone” in security and which has 40,000 professionals in this field, among whom there are specialists in child safety.
The CEO of Discord, Jason Lemonexplained that they use Artificial Intelligence to detect criminals on your network and, the CEO of Snap, Evan Spiegelsaid that, although the content of its application is deleted by default, copies remain on file in case “accountability” is necessary.
Mark Zuckerberg experienced an uncomfortable moment in the United States Congress.
Jose Luis Magana / AP/LaPresse
“If all this worked, we wouldn’t be here today,” concluded Democratic Senator Richard Durbin.
Congress has before it several child protection billsas is the case of the ‘Stop CSAM Act’, which aims to repress the proliferation of child sexual abuse material online, support victims and increase the responsibility of platforms.