Yesterday's Senate hearing on child safety in social media saw CEOs from TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Meta (Facebook's parent company), Discord, and Snapchat face questions from lawmakers. The hearing focused on the impact of social media on children's safety and the bipartisan effort to more effectively regulate these platforms.
The hearing began with powerful statements from individuals and families who had suffered due to incidents related to social media, including sexual exploitation and other forms of harm. These testimonies were gut-wrenching. My heart goes out to everyone whose lives have been impacted by these tragic events.
As for the hearing itself, the Senators were clearly angry and frustrated. They wanted Act 230 overturned, and they were blaming the tech firms (who are following the law as written) for obeying the law: "How dare you hide behind Act 230?"
Here are some facts: the tech companies did not write the law; lawmakers wrote it. The tech companies cannot change the law; only lawmakers can change it. As such, it was a bit strange to hear so many lawmakers literally yelling at CEOs of tech firms about their own (the lawmakers) inability to change the law. Emotions were very high – so high that the hearing devolved into theater, rather than substantive conversation.
"Do you support the XYZ legislation that I proposed? Yes or no?" The structure of the question forced the CEOs to answer in the only way they could: "We support the idea of this legislation, but have problems with specific provisions that (when agreed upon) will allow us to wholeheartedly support your bill." If you bifurcate a complex idea into a "yes or no'' question, there's no point in asking it – but that was the point. Most of the inquisitors got the political response that enabled them to say: "See? XYZ tech company does not support child safety. They are to blame."
Nothing surprised me yesterday. The hearings played out as expected, and the CEOs were publicly shamed (which I believe was extremely counterproductive). Behind the scenes, staffers, lobbyists, and corporate policy peeps will hammer out something that big tech can support (if common ground can be found). I do not have high hopes.
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ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named he covers tech and business for , is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular . He's a , and the creator of the popular, free online course, . Follow or visit .
