Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord face growing appetite in Congress for tighter social media regulation

“We
could
regulate
you
out
of
business
if
we
wanted
to,”
a
frustrated
Sen.
Thom
Tillis,
R-N.C.
told


Meta
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg,
TikTok
CEO
Shou
Zi
Chew,
X
CEO
Linda
Yaccarino
and
other
top
social
media
company
leaders
Wednesday
during
a
Senate
hearing.

Tillis
and
other
lawmakers
accused
the
tech
executives
of
failing
to
protect
children
from
sexual
exploitation
on
their
respective
social
media
platforms.
The
hearing
before
the
Senate
Judiciary
Committee
was
tense
and
frequently
emotional,
held
in
a
committee
room
filled
to
capacity
with
guests,
many
of
them
the
parents
of
children
targeted
by
online
predators.

In
one
memorable
exchange,
Sen.
Josh
Hawley,
R-Mo.,
compelled

Zuckerberg
to
stand
up
and
apologize
directly
to
parents
who
believed
that
Meta’s
Facebook
and
Instagram
apps
had
contributed
to
the
death
of
their
children.

“No
one
should
have
to
go
through
the
things
that
your
families
have
suffered,”
Zuckerberg
told
the
parents.

Yet
overall,
the
hearing
featured
more
raw
emotion
than
it
did
imminent
regulation.
This
reality
was
visible
in
the
fact
that
both
Meta
and
Snap
shares
were
relatively
flat
in
after-hours
trading
on
Wednesday,
at
$391
and
$15.94,
respectively.

It
appears
Wall
Street
doesn’t
expect
the
tech
firms
to
take
any
significant
financial
hits
to
their
businesses
from
Congress,
at
least
not
yet.

To
be
sure,
both
Republican
and
Democratic
senators
were

united
in
their
conviction
that
social
media
firms
are
failing
the
American
public
and
directly
harming
young
people.

Still,
it
takes
time
for
bills
to
get
passed,
and
all
of
these
social
media
firms
are
still
getting
slammed
for
child-safety
related
issues,
which
could
keep
the
topic
fresh
in
the
minds
of
politicians.

Child-safety
and
anti-big
tech
advocates
are
optimistic
that
the
senate
hearing
will
help
kickstart
efforts
to
regulate
social
media
firms
via
proposed
bills
like
the

Stop
CSAM
Act
and
the

Kids
Online
Safety
Act,
or
KOSA.

But
lawmakers
have
grilled
tech
CEOs
in
the
past
over
issues
related
to
antitrust
and
data
privacy
blunders,
and
they
haven’t
been
able
to
pass
legislation
that
would
change
the
way
the
companies
operate.

“I
think
we
have
to
understand
that
there
should
be
an
inherent
motivation
for
you
to
get
this
right,”
Tillis
said.
“Or
Congress
will
make
a
decision
that
could
potentially
put
you
out
of
business.”

But
shortly
after
Tillis
mentioned
the
idea
of
tough
regulation,
he
pivoted
to
a
commonly
held
belief
by
the
pro-business
community
that
over
regulation
will
benefit
foreign
companies.

“If
we
ultimately
destroy
your
ability
to
create
value,
and
drive
you
out
of
business,
that
evil
people
will
find
another
way
to
get
to
these
children,”
Tillis
said.

Lawmakers
largely
focused
on
Meta
during
the
hearing,
given
the
company’s
enormous
user
base,
high-profile
data
privacy
blunders,
and
recent
lawsuits,
including
the
one
recently
filed
by
New
Mexico’s
attorney
general
that

alleged
the
profitable
company
isn’t
adequately
safeguarding
its
young
users
from
sexual
predators.

The
penalties
for
these
lawsuits
could
be
high
for
the
company,
depending
on
their
outcome.
Indeed,
the
social
networking
giant

paid
$725
million
in
2022
to

settle
a
class
action
lawsuit
stemming
from
its
Cambridge
Analytica
scandal.
That

same
year,
its
shares
were
in
free-fall,
due
in
part
to
a
weak
economy
and
the
effects
of
the
Apple
iOS
privacy
update
that
made
it
more
difficult
for
companies
to
track
users
across
the
web.

For
now,
Meta’s
business
continues
to

rebound
after
its
disastrous
2022,
with
its
advertising
business
partially
lifted
by
what
the
company’s
finance
chief
has
previously

said
are
unnamed
“Chinese
retailers.”

Advertising
experts
and
analysts
believe
these
retailers
include
the
fast-rising

startups
Temu
and
Shein,
two
companies
that
U.S.
lawmakers
have
previously
complained
are
unfairly

benefiting
from
certain
trade
rules
because
of
their
connections
to
China.

Lawmakers
have
increasingly
sounded

alarms
over
Chinese
companies,
and
during
this
hearing,
peppered
TikTok’s
Chew
with
questions
about
the
social
network’s
Chinese
owner,
ByteDance.

Sen.
Tom
Cotton,
R-Ark.,
in
particular,
interrogated
Chew
about
China,
even
asking
the
executive
whether
he
has
“ever
been
a
member
of
the
Chinese
Communist
Party.”

“Senator,
I’m
Singaporean,”
Chew
said.

Watch:

Meta
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg
apologizes
to
parents
at
online
child
safety
Senate
hearing.