Congress blasts Zuckerberg and Pichai over their platform’s access to children
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Another Representative, Ohio Republican Bob Latta, asked Zuckerberg whether Facebook takes responsibility for the suicide of an underage girl who committed suicide after a man showed her friends compromising photos of her on the social media site. Calling it “an incredibly sad story,” the CEO said that Facebook does have the responsibility to develop systems to remove such content from the app. He also tried to turn the conversation toward the positive aspects of reading social media posts. Zuckerberg stated, “Using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental health benefits.”
Representative Kathy Castor, a Democrat serving Florida, asked Pichai and Zuckerberg how much their firms make from ads shown to kids. Both executives said that kids are not allowed to use most of the services offered by Google and Facebook. Castor interrupted Zuckerberg to say, “Every parent knows there are kids under the age of 13 on Instagram. The problem is you know it, and you know that the brain and social development of our kids is still evolving at a young age.”
Last year Castor introduced a bill that would force companies to get consent from those under 18 in order to collect or share their personal data. “Because these platforms have ignored it, they have profited off it, we’re going to strengthen the law,” she said.
Ohio Republican Bill Johnson compared Google and Facebook’s products for kids to cigarette companies selling their wares to minors. The risk to children long term is why he believes that Congress should eliminate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 which protects companies like Facebook and Google from getting sued over third-party content. Johnson said, “By allowing big tech to operate under Section 230 as is, we’ll be allowing these companies to get our children hooked on their destructive products for their own profit. Big tech is essentially handing our children a lit cigarette and hoping they stay addicted for life.”
