Parents of children victimized on social media embarrassed the CEOs of America’s most prominent platforms as they entered a Senate hearing Wednesday, with many family members holding photos of their deceased or scarred children. while an emotionally impactful video played.
Crowds of helpless parents lined the front gallery of the packed Senate Judiciary Committee chamber as committee members grilled executives over their failure to protect underage users on their platforms.
An audible whistle spread from the gallery as the CEOs took their seats and the parents skewered them with piercing glances.
Present at the hearing were: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel, and Discord CEO , Jason Citron.
Once the executives entered, the crowd held up photos of their children who had committed suicide or suffered psychological damage after falling victim to predators they met on Facebook and Instagram.
“Alex, Forever 17,” said one sign, “Carson Bride, Forever 16,” said another, and “Mason Bogard, Forever 15,” said a third. They were among more than 20 such signs placed above the crowd.
“If you don’t think your time has come for this idea, look at the turnout here,” committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin told executive directors as he opened the hearing.
Parents of children killed or harmed by sexual abuse on social media filled the Senate Committee gallery on Wednesday. AP From left to right: Discord CEO Jason Citron, Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are pictured at the Senate judicial hearing on Wednesday. AP
The CEOs were then shown a heartbreaking video of parents and victims sharing their experiences of sexual abuse on social media.
“I was sexually exploited on Facebook… I was sexually exploited on Instagram… I was sexually exploited on X,” said a row of victims, some with their faces visible, others obscured or blurred to protect their identities.
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“My son Riley committed suicide after being sexually exploited on Facebook,” said mother Mary Rodee as she held a photo of her son, who in 2021 committed suicide just six hours after a predator forced him to share explicit images online. and then blackmail him. him.
“The child who is exploited is never the same again,” a parent continues in the video.
“I have reported this issue on numerous occasions,” said a woman whose identity was obscured in the images. “It was more than a decade before anyone helped me.”
The parents of 12-year-old Matthew Minor, who died in 2019 after participating in the viral TikTok “choking challenge.” AP During a victim impact video played at the beginning of the hearing, parents shared how their children were exploited online. Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
A mother whose face was blurred in the images explained how her 13-year-old son was “exploited online and trafficked.”
The young teenager took to Twitter for help, but was rebuffed with a canned response. He eventually became suicidal and locked himself in his bedroom.
“X’s response was ‘Thank you for reaching out. We have reviewed the content and found no violations of our policies, so no action will be taken at this time.’”
“How many more children like Matthew… like Olivia… like Riley… How many more children will suffer and die because of social media?” The video concluded, passing through numerous parents.
“Big Tech failed to protect my son from sexual exploitation,” the mother said.
Many of the children whose images were displayed in the gallery committed suicide because of their experiences on social media. Getty Images Parents held pictures of their children and stared at the social media CEOs as they entered the courtroom. fake images
Several parents who appeared in the video also attended the hearing, including Riley’s mother, Mary.
Also present were the parents of 12-year-old Matthew Minor, who died in 2019 while participating in the TikTok “choking challenge”; and the parents of Mariam Radwan, who developed a severe eating disorder that left her wheelchair-bound after Instagram and TikTok algorithms turned her curiosity about healthy eating into a death trap.
“TikTok showed my 12-year-old son Matthew a video of the “choking challenge,” Matthew’s father, Todd Minor, said in a statement issued after the hearing. He “he tried and killed him. “TikTok and other platforms have allowed this deadly viral video to circulate for over a decade, resulting in hundreds of deaths like Matthew’s.”
“The algorithms that power Instagram and TikTok almost killed my daughter Mariam. Curious about healthy eating, social media dragged her into a black hole of dangerous content, like how to eat less than 500 calories a day or challenges to demonstrate extreme thinness,” said Mariam’s mother, Naveen Radwan.
“She spent all four years of high school in and out of hospitals, suffered cardiac arrest, and was confined to a wheelchair due to an eating disorder triggered by social media. TikTok and Instagram made a lot of money off of her pain,” she said.
Zuckerberg offered an impromptu apology after Sen. Josh Hawley demanded to know if he had ever given one to his parents. AP
After Sen. Lindsay Graham told him he had “blood on his hands,” Sen. Josh Hawley forced billionaire Facebook founder Zuckerberg to stand up and face the parents behind him with an apology.
“Have you apologized to the victims?” Hawley asked as Zuckerberg searched for an answer and the gallery filled with applause. “Show him the photos! Would you like to apologize for what he has done to these good people?
Facing the crowd of parents now standing with photos of their children held high, Zuckerberg said: “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through.”
“And that’s why we invested so much and we’re going to continue to make efforts across the industry to make sure that no one has to go through the things that their families have had to go through,” he said before turning around and sitting back down.
If you are having suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free, confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or visit SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn