A Report on Social Media

Blood on their Hands

The Child Safety Senate Hearing

On the 31st January, 2024, the Child Safety Senate Hearing started, summoning the social media CEO's before them.

The Senate Judiciary Committee grilled the chief executives of the top social media companies at Capitol Hill over Child safety, with lawmakers accusing the tech leaders of failing to protect children from exploitation and abuse.

Senator Lindsey Graham said among his opening remarks;
"Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us -- you have blood on your hands."

The comment prompted applause from families gathered in the hearing room whose children DIED after being ensnared in some of the darker sides of their platforms.

"You have a product that's killing people," Senator Graham added.

Later on in the hearing, Senator Josh Hawley called on Meta's Zuckerberg to directly apologize to families in the room.

"They're here. You're on national television. Would you like to apologize for what you've done to these good people?" Hawley pressed.

Senator Josh Hawley

The CEO of Meta, the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram, then stood up to address the parents.

"It's terrible. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered," Zuckerberg told them.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on online child safety at Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Washington DC

The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a hearing intended to drum up support for federal legislation to safeguard children from the online world, is also hearing from X's Linda Yaccarino, TikTok's Shou Chew, Snap's Evan Spiegel and Discord's Jason Citron.

Sexual exploitation of children online is a growing problem.

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, child sexual abuse material online has gone up tenfold in the past 10 years.

Chairman of the Committee Dick Durbin called online child exploitation a "crisis in America" fuelled by new technology that gives predators "powerful new tools" to target children.

Chairman of the Committee Senator Dick Durbin

Each of the CEOs addressed the families in the room and gave their condolences, but Zuckerberg pushed back on the link between mental health and social media in his opening remarks.

Zuckerberg said, "Mental health is a complex issue and the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes."

But mental health online is a separate issue - the main issue is about predators who are using social media to target children.

Senator Graham retorted, "These companies must be reigned in, or the worst is yet to come."

Legislative efforts at the national level have mostly failed, even though state legislators have introduced more than 100 bills regulating how children interact with social media.

Facebook are the worst by far and have been given record fines for blatantly failing to prevent inappropriate images on their platform.

CAMACA Conclusion

CAMACA commends the Senate Judiciary Committee - they are taking the right steps and doing their job on this issue.

There is no doubt that real changes are coming for social media and they will have to get their own houses in order for the safety of our children.

Mark Zuckerberg, in particular, needs to understand that this is not a mental health argument about social media, this is about predators targeting children using their platforms.

Children's mental health on social media is beside the point and we are sure that all the CEO's understand that.

Facebook have still not learned their lesson from their record fines and are riddled with graphic pornography that children have easy access to. They are also by far the worst for groomers and paedophiles who are still using their platform to entrap children.

CAMACA urges everyone to BOYCOTT Facebook until they are forced to completely change their ways.

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