Here Are the 5 Biggest Moments from the Senate’s Contentious Social Media Hearing

Isaac SchorrJan 31st, 2024, 4:58 pm
 

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

The leaders of some of the biggest social media companies in the country — including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok’s Shou Chew, X’s Linda Yaccarino, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, and Discord’s Jason Citron —  were hauled before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing on Wednesday that dominated the news cycle. Here are the five biggest moments from it:

THE ZUCKERBERG APOLOGY

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) asked Zuckerberg to apologize to the parents of children victimized by sexual exploitation in one particularly dramatic moment and, to the surprise of many, he did just that.

After standing up and turning toward the hearing audience where the affected family members were sitting, Zuckerberg professed to be “sorry for everything you’ve all gone through.”

“Nobody should have to go through what your families have suffered. This is why we have invested so much and are going to continue industry leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things your families have suffered,” he said.

The apology elicited dramatic reaction on Fox News — whose hosts praised the billionaire — and CNN, whose Dana Bash called it “a moment for the ages.”

MARSHA BLACKBURN CLAIMS META WANTS TO BE ‘PREMIER SEX TRAFFICKING SITE’

Zuckerberg also came under fire from Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who accused him of seeking to cultivate “the premier sex trafficking site in this country.”

Here’s how it went down:

BLACKBURN: I want to talk with you about your Instagram Creators program and about the push we found out through these documents that you actually are pushing forward because you want to bring kids in early. You see these younger teenagers as valuable but an untapped audience, quoting from the emails and suggesting teams are actually household influencers to bring their younger siblings into your platform, into Instagram. Now, how can you ensure that Instagram Creators, your product, your program does not facilitate illegal activities when you fail to remove content pertaining to the sale of minors, and it is happening once every two minutes in this country?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, our tools for identifying that kind of content are industry leading, that doesn’t mean we’re perfect. There are definitely issues that we have, but we continue —

BLACKBURN: Mr. Zuckerberg, yes, there are a lot that is slipping through. It appears that you’re trying to be the premier sex trafficking site in this country.

ZUCKERBERG: Of course not, Senator. Senator, that’s ridiculous.

BLACKBURN: No, it is not ridiculous.

ZUCKERBERG: We don’t want this content on our platforms.

BLACKBURN: Why don’t you take it down?

ZUCKERBERG: We do take it down. We do more work to take it down than —

BLACKBURN: No you are not, you are not! And the problem is we’ve been working on this. Senator Welch is over there. We’ve been working on this stuff for a decade. You have an army of lawyers and lobbyists that have fought us on this every step of the way. You work with Net Choice, the Cato Institute, Taxpayers Protection Alliance and Chamber of Progress to actually fight our bipartisan legislation to keep kids safe online.

LINDSEY GRAHAM TO ZUCKERBERG: ‘YOU’VE GOT BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!’

Zuckerberg was made the primary target of still more frustration from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who told the story of a young constituent who killed himself after being extorted online before telling the billionaire that he bore responsibility for the incident.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us. I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands!” exclaimed Graham. “You have a product. You have a product that’s killing people. When we had cigarettes killing people, we did some about it.”

TOM COTTON ASKS TIKTOK CEO IF HE’S PART OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

In another contentious moment, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), asked Chew, the Singaporean CEO of TikTok, if he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

“Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?” asked Cotton.

“Senator, I’m Singaporean. No,” replied Chew.

“Have you ever been associated or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?” inquired Cotton in a follow-up.

“No, senator. Again, I’m Singaporean,” shot back Chew.

DURBIN CHIDES WITNESSES FOR NOT APPEARING VOLUNTARILY

While introducing the witnesses at the start of the hearing, Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) chided three of them — Yaccarino, Spiegel, and Citron — for only showing up and cooperating after receiving subpoenas.

“I will note for the record that Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Chew are appearing voluntarily. I am disappointed that our other witnesses did not offer that same degree of cooperation,” began Durbin. “Mr. Citron, Mr. Spiegel and Ms. Yaccarino are here pursuant to subpoenas, and Mr. Citron only accepted services of his subpoena after U.S, marshals were sent to Discord’s headquarters at taxpayer expense. I hope this is not a sign of your commitment or lack of commitment to addressing the serious issue before us.”

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