The leaders of Meta (Facebook, Instagram),
This subject generally brings together elected politicians from both sides and numerous associations who accuse digital platforms of not sufficiently protecting young people, particularly against the risks of sexual exploitation.
“The abhorrent failure of these companies to eradicate child sexual abuse is an example of a broader and systemic failure to prioritize the safety of children who use their products,” Imran Ahmed, founder of the NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate.
The Judiciary Committee summoned Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Linda Yaccarino (X), Shou Zi Chew (TikTok), Evan Spiegel (Snap) and Jason Citron (Discord) for a hearing titled “Tech Giants and the Abuse Crisis sexual activity against minors online.
“I am proud of the work accomplished by our teams to improve the safety of children online, not only on our services, but also on the entire Internet,” Mark Zuckerberg plans to declare to senators by way of introduction on Wednesday, d ‘after the text of his speech consulted by AFP.
“We have around 40,000 people in total working on security and safety, and we have invested more than $20 billion since 2016,” he will specify.
Child criminal networks
He said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently said Meta goes “above and beyond legal requirements to ensure there are no portions of its network where this type of activity occurs.” .
Social networks regularly announce measures to better regulate the online browsing of minors, without managing to convince observers and authorities.
In early December, the US state of New Mexico filed a complaint against Meta, accusing its platforms of promoting child crime, from child pornography to recommendation algorithms and criminal solicitations.
In June, a report from Stanford University and the Wall Street Journal has determined that Instagram is the main platform used by child sex offender networks to promote and sell content depicting sexual assault of minors.
“Large networks of accounts, which give the appearance of being operated by minors, openly promote the sale of content” child pornography, said researchers at the University of Silicon Valley.
“In the past, parents worried about where their children were at 10 p.m. Today, they may be physically present, but we do not know who they spend time with online, or what they are exposed to every day,” Imran Ahmed said in a press release on Tuesday.
“Half measures”
X will for its part create a new branch dedicated to the moderation of the platform, which will recruit around a hundred people to primarily fight against this scourge, according to a press release published Friday.
“X does not have a child-focused business,” noted Joe Benarroch, COO of X, “but it is important that we make these investments to prevent offenders from using our platform for ANY type of distribution or engagement with content relating to sexual abuse of minors.”
“Some networks announced new safety measures for children last week that were long overdue…” noted Dick Durbin, Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday. But “as these changes are at best only half measures, I welcome the opportunity given to me to question them on what remains to be done”.
The discussions will also certainly focus on the other dangers linked to social networks for adolescents.
At the end of October, more than forty American states filed a complaint against Meta, believing that its platforms harm the “mental and physical health of young people”, citing the risks of addiction, cyber-harassment or eating disorders.
Mark Zuckerberg plans to support a new law “on age verification (by application stores) and parental control over applications used by their children”, which parents are demanding, according to him.