WASHINGTON — Social media CEOs faced an onslaught of pressure from congressmen during Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee.
The committee was focused on the "Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis" during Wednesday's hearing. The CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok, Discord, and Snap were in attendance for the committee hearing.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a ranking member of the committee, spoke at length about the danger that social media outlets pose to democracy and the mental health of children.
During his remarks, Graham referenced a situation involving the late son of South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey (R-York County). Guffey's teenage son was scammed and threatened by people as part of an extortion scheme. The incident led to Guffey's son dying by suicide at the age of 17.
"You have blood on your hands," Graham said toward Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta. "You have a product that is killing people. When we had cigarettes killing people, we did something about it."
Graham iterated the importance of getting laws passed that protect consumers or regulate social media companies' actions in some way. The senator called for the repeal of Section 230, which allows social media companies to regulate users on their platforms without government interference.
"We live in an America in 2024 where there is no regulatory body dealing with the most profitable companies in the history of the world," Graham said. "They can't be sued and there is not one law protecting the American consumer."
Guffey filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Meta earlier this month in reference to his son. The lawsuit accuses Meta of failing to create a safe environment for children and allowing extortion to run rampant on its platforms -- which consist of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
In 2023, Guffey pushed to get "Gavin's Law" passed in South Carolina. The law aims to crack down on extortion and sextortion cases that happen online.
In response to some of the senators' remarks on Wednesday, Zuckerberg spoke about Meta's efforts to create a safer environment for children. He said Meta is committed to improving these issues. He later stood up and apologized to parents in attendance for any harm that had come to their children on Meta platforms after he was prompted by a senator to do so.