Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to families of social media victims at Senate hearing

In a dramatic moment on Capitol Hill, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at Sen. Josh Hawley's urging, stood up and apologized to the family members of children who had been harmed by social media. Zuckerberg is testifying before a Senate panel with the CEOs of other social media platforms about child exploitation and safety.

[darkone]

Minors shouldn’t be allowed to use social media.

[Mr.Vai_Brother]

Society always blames the wrong person for their own stupidity

[yyyuuu]

Parents want companies to do their job. Make your kids uninstall those apps, simple!

[damienostler]

Why would Facebook need to compensate children whos parents are allowing them to post pictures of them selfs half naked on instagram?

[austindearmond]

That's quite a performance from the senators. They realized a few years back that they could get more money and votes if they perform instead of governing.

[garywright]

The parents are to blame as much as any social media platform...

[Benny-ne]

When I was young, my mother told me that if I didn’t like what was on TV to turn the channel; when I liked nothing, turn it off. Today, I apply the same principle and simply do no use instagram, facebook, TikTok, or any social media outside of YouTube, and that, sparingly. It is called being responsible for MYSELF. This simple concept doesn’t restrict the liberty of others, yet protects me. Something Mr Hawley clearly never learned. Grow up Josh.

[mikieanthony]

Adults, Take responsibility for your kids
Instagram doesn't allow naked pics.

[Capt__Crunch]

Sounds like a parenting issue to me, parents are the adults and makes the rules not the children. Parents need to do better.

[matthewgates]

Why are you letting your 12 year old and 13 year old daughters use social media?

[jayradpt]

Sad - Zuck shouldn't have been treated like that. He's doing the best that he can.

[greenlawnfarm]

People die from buying drugs with money. Should everyone sue the government for printing money?

[msilver]

this guy is building a bunker, what a coward

[Olderaccount]

There are two types of parents: there are parents who let their kids have smartphones/tablets and social media, and there are good parents. Period.

[lolercatz]

I see a lot of comments talking about how this is mainly a parenting issue, but it is not exactly cut and dry as there will always be ways that kids/teenagers that will sneak behind parents backs to still use social media platforms. It happens every day, and theres still a right to hold the social media platforms and their security measures against harmful content to teenagers liable. In no way does that mean that these companies are SOLELY liable for the abuse kids face everyday online, but they should be liable to enhance the security, algorithms and protection of their platforms to ultimately protect children from such vile and hurtful content that they shouldn’t be seeing anyway. Most times, its content that the user/child in question has never requested to see in the first place. Ultimately, I agree with the message and pressure Congress is trying to place upon these CEOs. Change needs to happen regardless of if it is a parenting problem or not.

[daveburrows]

Hawley is in no position to be pointing at anyone else. He supports the big lie. It's shameful that anyone can get away with grandstanding like he does.

[MasterChief.Official]

Parents need to do a better job at taking care of their kids

[michaelsheppard]

Some very ignorant comments here. Okay, don't let your kid have a phone, you think that's gonna solve the problem? How many of you saying this have kids aged 13-15 right now? Do they not have phones, social media? How is it unreasonable to expect a company as massive as Facebook/meta to put in effort? A 13-15 year old girl gets sexual messages, log it and send it to that users local Police department. There's a absolutely no reason that in 2024 FB can't track and properly identify pedophiles and get them dealt with BEFORE they harm a kid.

[markrayner]

It would be good if he didn't keep interrupting & allow MZ to finish his answer, by doing this it only confirms this is all for theatrics & has nothing to do with policies.

[Nfinety]

The Irony of holding someone accountable while parents blame others for how they raise their children. Then hide behind words like "victim blaming"