Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is planning to haul four CEOs of major technology companies before his panel next month to press them on efforts to make their platforms safer for children.
The June 23 hearing comes as social media companies have taken some steps to institute more privacy and safety protections for kid and teenage users but not enough to satisfy lawmakers, who are eying more federal oversight.
Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, is seeking testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.
Meta owns Instagram, Facebook, Threads and WhatsApp. Alphabet is the parent company of Google.
“Americans deserve 2know what these companies r doing to keep kids&families safe online,” Mr. Grassley posted on social media in his signature shorthand style. “The cmte looks forward 2shining a bright light + holding Big Tech accountable.”
The hearing is titled “Examining Tech Industry Practices and the Implications for Users and Families: Is This Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment?”
Mr. Grassley’s announcement follows a Judiciary subcommittee hearing this week examining the impact of two court rulings that found social media companies liable for online harms.
A March 24 verdict from a New Mexico jury found Meta liable for $375 million in civil penalties for violating the state’s consumer protection laws by misleading users about the safety of its platforms and endangering children.
The next day, Meta was dealt another blow by a Los Angeles jury, which found the social media company and Google, the owner of YouTube, collectively responsible for $6 million in damages for designing their platforms to hook young users without regard for their well-being.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican and chair of the subcommittee that held the hearing, said the landmark rulings prove that “social media companies intentionally design their platforms to addict our children and to profit from our children.”
Ms. Blackburn has been pushing for passage of her bill, the Kids Online Safety Act, which would create a legal duty of care standard to hold social media companies accountable if they do not change their algorithms and other platform designs to mitigate against online harms.
