Top tech executives appeared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday as a part of a hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis.”Senators asked questions of the CEOs of Meta (the parent company of Facebook), TikTok, Discord, X (formerly Twitter), and Snap. After grandstanding for a portion of his time, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg if he wanted to apologize to the families in attendance.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through,” Zuckerberg said to the families, many of whom held up photos of children whose suicides have been linked to online harrassment, bullying, and exploitation. “It’s terrible. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered.”
Then Zuckerberg qualified his apology, saying, “And this is why we invest so much and are going to continue doing industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer.”
