Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to families of kids harmed online in contentious tech CEO hearing

The chief executives of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord and X, formerly known as Twitter, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing that often got heated and emotional.
Parents of children who suffered or died as a result of social media were in the audience, which drove tensions during the questioning. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood to apologize to the families in the hearing room whose children have been affected by his platform, including young people who committed suicide after being threatened by predators online.
“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through,” he said. “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.”
In response, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley called on Zuckerberg, as a billionaire, to “compensate” the families whose children have been affected by his platforms.
The issue of how tech is affecting society has been a rare bipartisan topic on Capitol Hill, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham siding with Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren agreeing on the need for accountability by social media companies.
Despite both parties’ appetite for going after tech platforms, however, Congress has yet to pass meaningful legislation to regulate social media companies. Some states have passed laws with age minimums for social media.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel also apologized to families whose children have died after they purchased drugs on Snapchat and explained some of the efforts his company was taking to protect young users.
“I’m so sorry that we have not been able to prevent these tragedies,” Spiegel said, before detailing some of the efforts the company takes to protect young users.
A group of youth advocates with t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “I am worth more than $270” were recognized during questioning of Zuckerberg about internal Meta documents suggesting that the company estimates the lifetime value of a teen user at $270.