Senators are growing impatient with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday released hundreds of pages of responses from Big Tech companies in the aftermath of a late January hearing regarding the protection of children online. Despite "multiple extensions" given to Meta and Zuckerberg, all the committee has is a 35-page reply in six weeks.
"His lack of urgency in responding to members' questions proves yet again that neither he nor his company is committed to protecting children online," Senate Judiciary spokesman Josh Sorbe said, according to The Washington Post. "It is more important than ever for the Senate to pass our kids' online safety bills and finally hold Big Tech accountable."
Zuckerberg took the brunt of the grilling from senators during the Jan. 31 hearing of Big Tech CEOs over what committee members saw as social media platforms rife with potential harm to children. He was prodded to give an apology to families in attendance who said they had children harmed by social media, he was accused of having "blood on your hands" and giving answers that resembled Big Tobacco executives in the 1990s.
Two weeks after the hearing, Judiciary members followed up with a letter to Zuckerberg about the now-shuttered "warning screens" on Instagram for child sex abuse material. Senators wanted to know, in part, why Meta's Instagram would show that content in the first place.
Zuckerberg was given 11 days to provide documentation by Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. It's unclear to what degree those responses are included in the 35 pages the committee unveiled Monday.
"We are working diligently to answer the over 500 questions for the record we received after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing," Meta spokesman Andy Stone told the Post.
The committee also gave extensions to Discord, Snap, and TikTok but Meta was given the most time to reply, the panel said.
Zuckerberg attended the Jan. 31 hearing voluntarily, along with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. The committee had to subpoena Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Linda Yaccarino of X, and Discord's Jason Citron.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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