Tech CEOs in Hot Water-A debatable necessity

Recently, on January 31, 2024, the CEOs of Tech giants were brought forth to a Senate hearing in America. Presided by the U.S Senate Judiciary Committee, these leading businessmen were brought under hot water for about four hours, with Senators especially vocal regarding the harm that these Tech platforms had brought.With even Zuckerberg apologizing to the audience present in the chamber, it does seem that some of the concerns posted by the committee are indeed valid.  

One hot topic was the harm caused to children via the Tech platforms. Indeed, as Senator Lindsey Graham said, the executives had “blood on their hands.” With millions of underage children, and under the age of 13, having accounts on platforms such as Facebook and Tiktok, the possibility for them to be exposed to harmful content is rising up drastically. With cases of online child abuse, such as sexual exploitation, harrasment, bullying, and such, exposure to harmful content like suicide, decline in mental health being more numerous then ever before, the Tech companies have a lot to answer. For one, Toney Roberts’ 14-years old daughter Englyn committed suicide after being exposed to such content on instagram(). Another case would be that of 17-years old Jordan LeMay, who also committed suicide after falling to an online scam calling for sexual images in social media. Although the top Tech giants constantly assert that their platforms are not marketed to children under 13, and that potential underage users are prohibited from joining, the reliance is low. For example, TikTok was fined about $15.9 million for allowing more than one million underage users to join in Britain in April 2023. Similarly, in America, 33 state attorneys general sued Meta-company which Facebook and Instagram belonged to, for letting millions of underage children join the two platforms. Such accusations extend to the violation of data and privacy protection of minors. With increasing concerns that the platforms themselves, that have promised to protect minors, exploiting them for profit, ‘Freedom of Speech’ can be, indeed, sidelined for the moment. 

In conclusion, with several lawmakers pushing for the proposed Kids Online Safety Act to ensure online safety, it does seem like that some guidelines at the very least, are needed to balance the intricate line between Freedom of Speech, and the protection of minors online.