Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to families during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on kids' online safety in the United States. Senator Josh Hawley pressed Zuckerberg to apologize to families who attended the hearing, highlighting instances where children were targeted by predators online. Zuckerberg offered his apology, stating, "I'm sorry for everything you have all been through." He expressed a commitment to invest and continue industry-wide efforts to prevent such incidents.
During the hearing, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel shared that 20 million teenagers use Snapchat in the US, with around 200,000 parents utilizing its Family Center supervision controls. Snapchat's Family Center allows parents to monitor their teens' friends and communications on the app. Approximately 400,000 teen accounts have been linked to a parent's account through Family Center.
Senator Alex Padilla asked the CEOs of Snap, Meta, TikTok, X (formerly Google X), and Discord to disclose the number of minors using their platforms. Zuckerberg could not provide specific numbers but mentioned extensive ad campaigns to raise awareness of parental supervision tools. X CEO Linda Yaccarino stated that less than 1% of the platform's 90 million US users are between 13 and 17, emphasizing a focus on child protection and safety measures.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew highlighted that TikTok was one of the first platforms to introduce parental supervision controls. Discord CEO Jason Citron noted that Discord promotes parental controls through videos and in-app prompts. The US is considering the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would mandate social platforms to take additional measures to protect children online.
(With Agency Inputs)
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