Representatives from Meta, Discord, Snapchat, Twitter, and TikTok gathered.
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On January 31, 2024, representatives from Meta, TikTok, Snap, Twitter (X), and TikTok were summoned to testify before the U.S. Senate about cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and other criminal activities on their platforms. However, there were many unusual and very emotional scenes during this hearing. Here are three memorable moments.
Time for ideological verification
The thought verification that TikTok Ltd. CEO Zhou Shouzi (周 受資) received has become a hot topic. Since TikTok's parent company is ByteDance, a Chinese company, he was asked a question that seemed very intentional, but Zhou Shouzi confronted it head on and caused a stir. In particular, he clearly used the expression "massacre" when referring to the Tiananmen Square incident, and instead prevented the lawmaker asking the question from making any further comments. In fact, this scene is now circulating as a meme on TikTok in the United States.
In fact, this has been covered in many articles in Korea. However, you need to know the context. The reason Zuckerberg apologized was because Republican congressmen Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz were strongly arguing that there was a connection between the deterioration of youth mental health and social media use, and Zuckerberg took the stance that it was still under study and not a definitive issue, which led to criticism from many citizens attending the hearing to the point where it was difficult to proceed with the hearing.
In fact, I personally think that saying, "Your product is killing people, and you should compensate the victims' families" is a bit too harsh, but the atmosphere at the scene was so emotional that even after Mark Zuckerberg, the CEOs of Snap and Discord apologized several times whenever it was their turn to speak.
Outside the hearing
Not only in the United States but also around the world, the number of teenagers and adults who commit suicide or suffer psychological trauma due to online bullying, sexual abuse, etc. is increasing.
In response to this, discussions are taking place on a bipartisan level in the US on the STOP CSAM Act (Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act) and the KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act). In fact, in the US, there have been hot topics such as teenagers who bought drugs through Snapchat and became addicted, or who made extreme choices due to online bullying, and there is talk that technology platforms should have legal obligations to make services safe for children.
However, there is an ongoing debate about whether this will strengthen the crackdown on LGBTQ content or make the internet a censored space for everyone rather than a free space. The original Democratic Party would have taken some action, but the current public opinion is that Big Tech is the bad guy! I think it will be passed before the presidential election. Politics is similar everywhere.
Despite the large apologies and the laughable incidents, this hearing seems to have ignited a fire in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. While the CEOs expressed their condolences to the families who were hurt on the platform, they also reaffirmed the measures they had already invested and taken to keep users safe. However, the press and lawmakers evaluated the CEOs’ statements as empty cries with no legal effect.
Senator Lindsey Graham has raised his voice saying that he will directly deal with this bill in the Senate and create regulations that have a real obligation to provide “direct compensation.” How do you think we should regulate or punish various violent and exploitative behaviors that occur online? And what is the appropriate standard for regulation and censorship? It is a question worth thinking about.
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