445226 O.JPG
Leaders of a series of major social media companies will have to hear before the US Senate

According to the US Senate Justice Committee, the executives of major social media companies, namely Meta , X, Tiktok , Snap and Discord, are expected to testify at the hearing before the Senate on January 31, 2024, on the topic of online exploitation of children.

Senator Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham confirmed that although the X and Discord leaders initially hesitated to participate, but now all 5 companies have shown their cooperation attitude and leadership has officially confirmed to attend the hearing.

Senators said the hearing sessions will bring the opportunity to prove "the failure of companies in protecting children online".

In a joint statement, Senator Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham said: "From the beginning, we know that our online children's efforts to protect children will face disregard from big technology companies.

The hearing sessions are part of the attempt of the Mesopotamia in order to tighten online safety regulations for children.

However, many critics believe that this bill is too deep and can be more harmful than beneficial.

In March 20023, Utah signed a bill that required adolescents to have parents' consent before registering on social media platforms, while Louisiana and Mississippi states are currently required to verify their age before viewing content that is considered harmful to children, such as porn content.

Other child safety bills, such as online safety law for children and Coppa 2.0, has recently been approved by the Senate Trade Commission, despite the opposition of privacy supporters.

Notably, the upcoming hearing will be the next time that the CEO of Tiktok Shaw Tzu Chu (Chau Thu Tu) appeared before the US lawmakers, after being subjected to the harsh interrogation of the impact of Tiktok on user mental health in March 2023.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, CEO X Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Snap Evan Spiegel and CEO Discord Jason Citron are expected to appear in the hearing session with Shaw Tzu Chu.

(According to Overclockers)