On Wednesday, as many as 5 CEOs of the biggest social media and messaging companies attended the US Senate hearing on the impact of social media on children including X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Discord CEO Jason Citron, and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The hearing was conducted after lawmakers accused these companies of not protecting the children from the many dangers present on their social media platforms. During the hearing, a teary-eyed Zuckerberg made a direct public apology to the affected families present at the Senate hearing. Check what Meta CEO said in his apology.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s apology
According to a DWnews video post on Instagram, Zuckerberg, while apologising to the family said, “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. It’s terrible. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered and this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer.”
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The apology was made when Senator Josh Hawley asked Zuckerberg to face the families and apologise in front of national television. The families present in the hearing claimed to be the victims of social media impact, which affected their children’s lives. The families were present with their children’s photographs when Zuckerberg faced them and said “I’m sorry for everything.”
In response to parents’ testimonies who lost their children, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said referring to the social media platforms, “They’re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online. Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.”
Meta CEO, in a blog post, added, “We’ve made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we’ve made even more with how we’ve handled them.”
