Emma Sulaiman, Staff Writer
Mark Zuckerberg’s company “Meta”// Daniel Constante, Shutterstock
A lawsuit against Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, alleges that he ignored concerns about social media beautification filters and how they are affecting youth. He was asked back in 2019 to remove the filters provided on Instagram and Facebook. However, he dismissed this demand and claimed that there was “no data” suggesting they were harmful and that there was a clear demand for them.
Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew agreed to testify. The CEOs of X (previously Twitter), Snapchat, and Discord were sent subpoenas since they decided not to testify. At the hearing sat families whose children self-harmed and/or committed suicide as a result of unrealistic social media content.
TikTok CEO admitted that his children were not allowed to use the app because of a law banning children under 13 years of age from using social media, along with a testimony from Zuckerberg, who is now testifying for the eighth time. He was invited to apologize to the suffering families and said “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through”. Zuckerberg also introduced new safety measures for minors ahead of the hearing, stating that minors will no longer be able to be contacted by strangers on these platforms.
The Kids Online Safety Act has been put off for years by lawmakers and tech companies. Lawmakers acknowledged their lack of help in solving this problem, especially since explicit content involving minors is more available than ever with the use of AI software.
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