During a US Senate hearing on Wednesday, tech CEOs Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Spiegel offered apologies to parents who lost their children to online sexual exploitation and drug-related incidents respectively. However, the grieving parents remained unimpressed with the apologies, expressing frustration towards the CEOs and their responses to both their concerns and congressional questions.
Parents of the victims attended the hearing, holding photographs of their deceased children who had fallen prey to abusers on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. Tammy Rodriguez, the mother of Selena Rodriguez, who tragically took her own life at the age of 11 after being solicited for sexually exploitative content, voiced her dissatisfaction with the CEOs’ answers and requested more straightforward responses.
Toney Roberts, whose daughter Englyn died at 14 after consuming harmful content on Instagram including a video of a mock hanging, emphasized the need for action and accountability from the companies. Roberts, who had traveled from Louisiana to attend the hearing, criticized the CEOs for evading questions and highlighted the potential harm to more children if the companies were allowed to continue operating without consequences.
The hearing featured executives from Meta, Snap, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Discord, who faced a four-hour barrage of questions from members of Congress. Tensions ran high during exchanges throughout the hearing.
At the beginning of the session, each CEO delivered a speech outlining their company’s commitment to protecting children online. Zuckerberg faced criticism from parents for denying any direct link between social media usage and declines in mental health during his opening statement. The comments upset Lori Schott, a bereaved mother from Colorado, who deemed them profit-driven and lacking a moral compass.
Schott’s daughter, Annalee, ended her life at age 18, and according to Schott, her mental health had deteriorated after viewing content related to depression, anxiety, and suicide on TikTok and Instagram. Schott further shared that Annalee had witnessed a live suicide on TikTok’s “For You” page, which had a lasting impact on her. Schott accused the platforms of prioritizing profits over the well-being of children.
During a tense exchange, Josh Hawley, a Republican senator, invited Zuckerberg to apologize directly to the parents in attendance, many of whom held pictures of their deceased children. Zuckerberg stood up, faced the grieving families, and expressed his condolences. Similarly, Spiegel, in response to Senator Laphonza Butler, conveyed his apologies for their inability to prevent such tragedies.
However, for John DeMay, whose 17-year-old son Jordan died by suicide in 2022 after falling victim to a scam on Instagram soliciting sexual images, Zuckerberg’s apology felt empty and insufficient. DeMay described it as forced and believed it held no meaning or ability to bring his son back.
The grieving parents who attended the hearing sought not just apologies but concrete actions from the tech companies to protect children in the future.
