Social media corporations put income over youngsters, senators say
Senators sounded off in opposition to social media platforms and known as for motion throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to on Tuesday, saying the businesses lack accountability and are targeted on income on the expense of youngsters.
The hours-long listening to touched on an array of points, together with: the harms of cyberbullying, the scourge of kid sexual abuse materials on social media, and psychological well being points amongst youth. It additionally underscored how there’s bipartisan assist for taking motion on social media platforms — even in a narrowly divided Congress.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, condemned massive tech and mentioned the businesses are exacerbating a psychological well being disaster amongst younger folks, aggravating the difficulty with poisonous content material.
“We must be blunt from the start as a result of we all know proper now the central fact: Large tech has relentlessly, ruthlessly pumped up income by purposefully exploiting youngsters and [their] mother and father’ ache,” he mentioned.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, mentioned youngsters’ knowledge are being taken and monetized, including: The businesses ought to be required to make their platforms safer by default.
