All language subtitles for SUB EN INGLES

Do you affirm
the testimony you're about to give before

the committee will be the truth,
the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?

Chairman

Durbin, Ranking Member Graham,
and members of the Committee.

Every day, teens and young people
do amazing things on our services.

They use our apps to create new things,
express themselves, explore the world

around them, and feel more connected
to the people they care about.

Overall, teens tell us that
this is a positive part of their lives.

But some face challenges online,
so we work hard to provide

parents and teens support
and controls to reduce potential harms.

Being a parent is one of the hardest jobs
in the world.

Technology gives us new ways
to communicate with our kids

and feel connected to their lives.

But it can also make parenting
more complicated.

And it's important to me that our services
are positive for everyone who uses them.

We are on the side of parents everywhere,
working hard to raise their kids.

Over the last eight years, we've built
more than 30 different tools, resources

and features that parents can set time
limits for their teens using our apps,

see who they're following,
or if they report someone for bullying.

For teens,
we've added nudges to remind them

when they've been using Instagram
for a while

or if it's getting late
and they should go to sleep

as well as ways to hide words or people
without those people finding out.

We put special restrictions
on teen accounts on Instagram by default.

Accounts for under six
teens are set to private,

have the most restrictive content settings
and can't be messaged by adults

that they don't follow
or people they aren't connected to.

With so much of

our lives spent on mobile devices
and social media,

it's important to look into the effects
on teen mental health and well-being.

I take this very seriously.

Mental health is a complex issue

and the existing body of scientific work
has not shown it.

Causal link between using social media
and young people

having more mental health outcomes.

A recent National Academies of Science

report evaluated over 300 studies
and found that research, quote,

did not support the conclusion
that social media causes

changes in adolescent mental health
at the population level, unquote,

and also suggested
that social media can provide significant

positive benefits when young people use it
to express themselves,

explore and connect with others.

Still, we're going to continue
to monitor the research

and use it to inform our roadmap.

Keeping young

people safe online has been a challenge
since the Internet began,

and as criminals evolve their tactics,
we have to evolve our defenses too.

We work closely

with law enforcement to find bad actors
and help bring them to justice.

But the difficult reality
is that no matter how much we invest

or how effective our tools are,
there are always more.

There's always more to learn
and more improvements to make.

But we remain ready to work with members
of this committee, industry and parents

to make the Internet safer for everyone.

I'm proud of the work
that our teams do to improve online

child safety on our services
and across the entire Internet.

We have around 40,000 people overall
working on safety and security,

and we've invested
more than $20 billion in this since 2016,

including around
$5 billion in the last year alone.

We have many teams
dedicated to child safety

and teen well-being,
and we lead the industry

in a lot of the areas
that we're discussing today.

We built technology
to tackle the worst online risks

and share it to help our whole industry
get better, like Project Lantern,

which helps companies share data
about people who break child safety rules.

And we're founding members of
Take It Down a platform which helps

young people prevent their nude images
from being spread online.

We also go beyond legal requirements

and use sophisticated technology
to proactively discover abusive material.

And as a result, we find and report

more inappropriate content
than anyone else in the industry.

As the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children put it this week,

media goes, quote, above and beyond
to make sure that there are no portions

of their network where this type of
activity occurs, end quote.

I hope we can have a substantive
discussion today that drives improvements

across the industry,

including legislation that delivers
what parents say they want a clear system

for age verification and control over
what apps their kids are using.

Three out of four parents

want App store age verification
and four out of five

want parental approval of whatever
whenever teens download apps.

We support this.

Parents should have the final say on
what apps are appropriate

for their children and shouldn't
have to upload their ID every time.

That's what app stores are for.

We also support setting industry
standards on age appropriate content

and limiting signals
for advertising to teens

to age and location and not behavior.

At the end of the day,
we want everyone who uses our services

to have safe and positive experiences.

Before we wrap up,
I want to recognize the families

who are here today
who have lost a loved one or lived through

some some terrible things
that no family should have to endure.

These

issues are important for every parent
and every platform.

I'm committed
to continuing to work in these areas

and I hope we can make progress today.

Okay.

Are there others
that support that bill on this?

No. Okay.

Last Mr.

Zuckerberg, in 2021, the Wall Street
Journal reported on internal matter

research documents asking
why do we care about tweens?

These were internal documents.

I'm quoting the documents
and answering its own question

by citing Mehta internal emails.

They are a valuable but untapped audience.

At a Commerce hearing,
I'm also on that committee.

I asked Matt as head of Global Safety, why

children age 10
to 12 are so valuable to Marta.

She responded,
We do not knowingly attempt to recruit

people
who aren't old enough to use our apps.

Well, when the 42 state attorneys
general, Democrat and Republican,

brought their case,
they said this statement was inaccurate.

Few examples.

In 2021, she received an email, Ms..

Davis from Instagram's research director,
saying that Instagram

is investing and experiencing
targeting young age roughly 10 to 12.

In a February 20, 21 instant message,
one of your employees wrote

that Mata is working to recruit Gen Alpha
before they reach teenage years.

A 2018 email that circulated inside
Mata says that you were briefed

that children under 13 will be critical
for increasing

the rate of acquisition
when users turn 13.

Explain that with what I heard

at that testimony at the Commerce
hearing that they weren't being targeted.

And I just ask again,
as the other witnesses, why your company

does not support the STOP System Act
or the SHIELD Act.

Sure, Senator.

I'm happy to talk to both of those.

We had discussions
internally about whether we should build

a kid's version of Instagram like that.

I remember that YouTube
and other services.

We haven't

actually moved forward with that
and we currently have no plans to do so.

So I can't speak directly to the exact
emails that you that you cited,

but it sounds to me
like they were deliberations

around a project that people internally
thought was important

and we didn't end up moving forward with.

Okay.

And the bills, what are you going to say
about those two bills?

Sure.

So overall, I mean, my position on
the bills is I agree with the the

the goal of all of them.

There are most things that I agree
with within them.

There are specific things
that I would probably do differently.

We also have our own legislative proposal
for what we think

would be most effective in terms
of helping the Internet

and the various companies
give parents control over the experience.

So I'm happy to go into the detail
on any one of them.

But ultimately, I mean.

I just again, I think these parents
will tell you that that

this stuff hasn't
worked to just give parents control.

They don't know what to do.

It's very, very hard.

And that's why we are coming up
with other solutions that we think

are much more helpful to law enforcement,

but also this idea of finally
getting something going on liability,

because I just believe
with all the resources you have

that you actually would be able to do
more than you're doing are these parents

would be sitting behind you right now
in this Senate hearing room?

Thank you, Senator.

And I speak to that.

Or do you? I'm
going to come back later. Please go ahead.

I don't think
that parents should have to upload an I.D.

or prove

that they're the parent of a child in
every single app that their children use.

I think the right place to do this
and a place where it'd be actually

very easy for it to work
is within the app stores themselves,

where my understanding
is Apple and Google already, or at least

Apple already requires parental consent
when a child does a payment with an app.

So it should be pretty trivial
to pass a law

that requires them to make it
so that parents have control.

Any time a child downloads
an app and offers consent to that,

and the research that we've done
we've done shows that

the vast majority of parents want that.

And I think that that's the type
of legislation, in addition

to some of the other ideas
that you all have

that would make this
a lot easier for parents.

Just just to be clear, I remember one
mom telling me with all these things

she could maybe do that
she can't figure out.

It's like a faucet overflowing in a sink
and she's out there with a mop

while her kids are getting addicted

to more and more different apps
and being exposed to material.

We've got to make this simpler for parents
so they can protect their kids.

And I just don't think
this is going to be the way to do it.

I think the answer is what Senator
Graham has been talking about,

which is opening up
the halls of the courtroom.

So that puts it on you guys to protect
these parents and protect these kids

and then also to pass some of these laws
that makes it easier for law enforcement.

We pioneered quarterly
reporting on our community

standards enforcement across all these
different categories of harmful content.

We focus on prevalence,
which you you mentioned,

because what we're focused on is what
percent of the content that we take down.

So, Mr.

Zuckerberg, I'm going to wrap
and you're very talented.

I have very little time left.

I'm trying to get an answer to a question,
not as a percentage of the total,

because remember, it's a huge number,
so the percentage is small.

But do you report
the actual amount of content

and the amount of use self-harm
content received?

No, I believe we focus on prevalence.

Correct? You don't.

What's what's. Odd?

What I'm trying to understand is

why it is that Instagram is

only restricting it's

restricting access
just to sexually explicit content,

but only for teens ages 13 to 15.

Why not restrict it for 16 and 17
year olds as well?

Senator, my.

Understanding is that we don't allow
sexually explicit content

on the service for people of any age.

The the.

How is that going?

you know, our, our,

our prevalence metrics suggest that.

I think it's 99%
or so of the content that we remove.

We're able to identify
automatically using a system.

So I think that our efforts in this,

while they're not perfect,
I think are industry leading.

The other thing that you asked about
was self-harm content,

which is what we recently restricted
and we made that shift to the the

I think the state of the science
is shifting a bit.

Previously we believed

that when
people were thinking about self-harm,

it was important for them to be able
to express that and get support.

And now more of the the,
the thinking in the field is that it's

just better
to not show that content at all,

which is why we recently moved
to restrict that from showing up for,

for, for those teens at all.

Is there a way for

for parents to make a request
on what their kid can see or not

see on your sites?

There are a lot of parental controls.

I'm not sure if there are.

I don't think that
we currently have a control around topics,

but we do allow parents to control

the time
that the children are on the site.

And also a lot of it
is based on kind of monitoring

and understanding
what the teens experience is.

Instagram also

display the following warning screen

to individuals
who were searching for child

abuse material.

The these results

may contain images of child sexual abuse.

And then you gave users two choices

get resources

or see results anyway.

Mr. Zuckerberg,
What the hell were you thinking?

All right, Senator,

the the the basic science behind

that is that when people are searching
for something that is problematic,

it's often helpful to rather than just
blocking it, to help direct them towards

something that that could be helpful
for getting them to get help in.

What also can get resources
in what same universe

is there a link for see results anyway?

Or because we might be wrong?

We try to trigger this
this warning or we tried to.

When we think that there's any chance
that.

Okay, you might be wrong.

Let me ask you, how many times
was this warning screen displayed?

I don't know.

But you don't know. Why don't you know?

I, I don't know the answer to that.

I'll stop my head.
But you know what, Mr. Zuckerberg?

It's interesting you say you don't know

what off the top of your head
because I asked it in June of 2023

in an oversight oversight letter,
and your company refused to answer.

Will you commit right now
to within five days

answering this question
for this committee?

We'll follow up on that. Is that a yes?

Not a will follow up.

I know how lawyers write statements
saying we're not going to answer.

Will you tell us how many times this
warning screen was displayed, yes or no?

Senator, I'll personally look into it.

I'm not sure. If. Okay.

So you're refusing to answer that.
Let me ask you this.

How many times did an Instagram user
who got this warning

that you're seeing images of child
sexual abuse?

How many times did that
user click on see results?

Anyway? I want to see that,

Senator.

I'm not sure if we stored that,

but I'll personally look into this
and we'll follow up.

And what follow up to Instagram

do when you have

a potential pedophile
clicking on I'd like to see child porn.

What did you do next
when that happens, Senator?

I think that an

important piece of context here is that
any context that we think is child. So.

Mr. Zuckerberg that's called a question.

What did you do next when someone clicked?

You may be getting child

sexual abuse images
and they click see results.

Anyway, what was your next step?

You said you might be wrong.

Did anyone examine was it
in fact child sexual abuse material?

Did anyone report that user?

Did anyone go
and try to protect that child?

What did you do next?

Senator We take down
anything that we think is sexual abuse

material on the service. And we did.

Did anyone verify whether it was
in fact child sexual abuse material?

Senator, I don't know if if
every single searches or following up on.

But did you report
the people who wanted it?

Do you want me to answer your call?

I want you to answer the question
I'm asking.

Did you. Report time to.

The people who click see results? Anyway.

That's probably one of the factors
that we use in reporting in general.

And we've reported more people and done
more reports like this to Nick Mick,

the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children,

than any other company in the industry.

We proactively go out of our way
across our services to do this

and have made
I think it's more than 26 million reports,

which is more than the whole rest
of the industry combined.

Mr. Zuckerberg, let me start with you.

Did I hear you
say in your opening statement

that there is no link between mental
health and social media use?

Senator, What I said is I think
it's important to look at the science.

I know it's people widely talk about this
as if that is something

that's already been proven.

And I think that the bulk of the
scientific evidence does not support that.

Well, really, let me just remind you of
some of the science from your own company.

Instagram studied
the effect of your platform on teenagers.

Let me just read you some quotes
from The Wall Street

Journal's report on this company.

Researchers found that Instagram
is harmful for a sizable percentage

of teenagers, most notably teenage girls.

Here's a quote from your own study.

Quote, We make body image issues
worse for one in three teen girls.

Here's
another quote Teens blame Instagram.

This is your study for increases
in the rate of anxiety and depression.

This reaction was unprompted
and consistent across all groups.

That's your study.

Senator.

We try to understand the the feedback
and how people feel about the services

we can improve.

Wait a minute.

You're always out of your own

studies says that you make life worse
for one in three teenage girls.

You increase anxiety and depression.

That's what it says.

And you're here testifying to us in public
that there's no link.

You've been doing this for years.

For years you've been coming in public
and testifying under oath

that there's absolutely no link.

Your product is wonderful.

The science is nascent, full speed ahead,
while internally you know full

well your product is a disaster
for teenagers

and you keep right on doing what
you're doing right.

True. That's not true.

Let me let me
let me show you some other facts.

I know that you're familiar with a minute.
Wait a minute.

That's not a question.
That's not a question.

Those are facts, Mr. Zuckerberg.

That's not a question. That's the answer.

Let me tell you some more facts.

Here are some and here's some information
from a whistleblower who came before

the Senate testified under oath in public.

He worked for you to senior executive.

Here's what he showed
he found when he studied your products.

So, for example, this is girls
between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.

37% of them reported
that they had been exposed

to nudity on the platform
unwanted in the last seven days.

24% said that they had experienced
unwanted sexual advances.

They've been propositioned
in the last seven days.

17% said they had encountered
self-harm content

pushed at them in the last seven days.

Now, I
know you're familiar with these stats

because he sent you an email
where he lined it all out.

I mean, we've got a copy of it right here.

My question is, who did you fire for this?

Who got fired because of that?

Senator, we study all this because it's
important we want to improve our service.

Well, you just told me so long ago
you studied that there was no linkage.

Who did you. Fire?

I said you mischaracterized 30.

7% of teenage girls between 13 and 15

were exposed to unwanted nudity
in a week on Instagram.

You knew about it. Who did you fire?

Senator. This is why we're building.

Who did you fire?

Senator, That's.
I don't think that that's.

Who did you. Fire?

I'm not going to answer that.

That's because you. Didn't fire anybody.

Right.

You didn't take any significant action.

It's appropriate to talk about it.

It's not appropriate. Decisions.

Do you know who's sitting behind you?

You've got families from across the nation

whose children are either
severely harmed or gone.

And you don't think it's appropriate
to take.

Talk about steps that you took, the fact
that you didn't fire a single person.

Let me ask you this.

Let me ask you this.
Have you compensated any of the victims?

Sorry?

Have you compensated any of the victims
these girls?

Have you compensated them?

I don't believe so.

Why not?

Don't
you think they deserve some compensation

for what your platform has done?

Help with counseling services.

Help with dealing with the issues
that your your service is cause.

Our job is to make sure
that we build tools to help keep you.

Are you going to compensate them?

Senator, our job
and what we take seriously is making sure

that we build industry leading tools
to find harmful to make money,

take it off the services, to make money,
and to build tools that empower parents.

So you didn't take any action.

You didn't take any action,
you didn't fire anybody.

You haven't compensated a single victim.
Let me ask you this.

Let me ask you this.

There's families of victims here today.

Have you apologized to the victims?

I would you like to do so now?

Well, they're here.
You're on national television.

Would you like now to apologize

to the victims
who have been harmed by your product?

Show them the pictures.

Would you like to apologize for what
you've done to these good people? I,

I, I'm supposed

to go through

the things
that your families have suffered.

And this is why we invested so much.

And our hope

is rebuilding efforts to to make sure that

no one has to go through the.

Types of things
that your family has suffered.

Will you commit

to reporting measurable child safety data

on your quarterly earnings
reports and calls?

Senator, it's a it's a good question.

We actually already have
a quarterly report that we issue

and do a call to answer questions for how
we're enforcing our community standards.

That includes
not just the child safety issues.

So is that a yes?

We have a separate call
that we do this on.

But we've I think that,

you know, you have to report
we report your earnings to the FCC.

Will you report to them this kind of data
And by numbers, by the way,

because Senator Cruz

and others have said percentages
don't really tell the full story.

Will you report to the FCC
the number of teens?

And sometimes you don't even know
where they're teens are,

not because they just claim to be adults.

Will you report the number of underage
children on your platforms

who experience unwanted
these and other kinds of

messaging

that they that harm them?

Will you commit to

citing those numbers to the FCC
when you make your quarterly report?

Well, Senator,
I'm not sure it would make as much sense

to include it in the SEC filing,

but we file it publicly
so that way everyone can see this.

And we I'd be happy to follow up and talk
about what specific metrics.

I think the specific things
that some of the ones

that you just mentioned
around underage people in our services,

we don't allow
people under the age of 13 on our service.

So if we find anyone who's under the age
of 13, we remove them from our service.

Now, I'm not saying that people don't lie
and that there aren't. Yes.

That's under the age of 13.
Who's using it.

But I'm not going to Bill, too.

We're not going to count
how many people there are,

because fundamentally, if we identify
that someone is underage, we remove them.

I think that's really important
that we get actual numbers

because these are real human beings.

That's
why all these parents and others are here,

because each time that a person,
a young person is exposed

to this kind of unwanted material,
they get hooked.

It is a danger to that individual.

So I'm hoping that you are saying
that you do report

this kind of information to the
if not the FCC, that it is made public.

I think I'm hearing that.

Yes, you do.

So, yes, Senator,
I think we report more publicly

on our enforcement
than any other company in the industry.

And we're very supportive of transparency.

I'm running out of time, Mr.

Zuckerberg,
But so I will follow up with what exactly

it is that you do report.

Again, for you women to automatically

places young people's accounts
and you testified to this

on the most restrictive privacy
and content sensitivity sessions.

And yet teens are able to opt
out of these safeguards.

Isn't that right?

Yeah, It's not mandatory
that they remain on these settings.

They can opt out.

Senator?

Yes, we default
teens into a private accounts,

so they have a private
restricted experience.

But some teens want to be creators
and want to have content

that they share more broadly.

And I don't think that that's something
that should just blanketly be banned.

You have

you have convinced over 2 billion people

to give up all of

their personal information,
every bit of it,

in exchange for getting to see

what their house school friends
had for dinner Saturday night

as pretty much your business
model, isn't it?

It's not how I would characterize it.

I mean, we give people the ability
to connect with the people they care about

and and to engage
with the topics that they care about.

And and you take this information,

this abundance of personal information,

and then you develop algorithms

to punch people's hot buttons,

which
and some and steer to them information

that punches their hot buttons again
and again and again

to keep them coming back
and to keep them staying longer.

And as a result, your users
see only one side of an issue.

And so to some extent, your

platform has become a killing field
for the true, passionate.

I mean, Senator, I disagree with that.

That characterization.

You know,
we build ranking and recommendations

because people have a lot of friends
and a lot of interests,

and they want to make sure that they see
the content that's relevant to them.

We're trying to make a product that's
useful to people and make our services

as helpful as possible
for people to connect with the people

they care about in the interest they care.

But you don't show them both sides.

You don't give them balanced information.

You just keep punching their hot buttons,
punching their hot buttons.

You don't show them balanced information

so people can discern
the truth of themselves

and you rev them up so much that that show
often your platform and others

becomes just cesspools of

snark where nobody learns anything.

Don't they?

Well, Senator. I disagree with that.

I think people can engage
in the things that they're interested in

and learn quite a bit about those.

We have done a handful of different
experiments and things in the past around

news and trying to show content
on a diverse set of of of perspectives.

I think that there's more
that needs to be explored there, but

I don't think that we can solve
that by ourselves. We do that.

I think. I'm sorry to cut you off, Mr.

President,
but I'm going to run out of time.

Do you think your users really understand

what they're giving to you,
all their personal information

and how you how you process it
and how you monitor it?

Do you think people really understand.

Senator?

I think people understand the basic terms.

I mean, I think that there's
I things that a lot of.

Me put it another way.

We spent a couple of years
as we talked about this.

Does your user agreement still suck?

I'm not sure how to answer that.

Senator can deal with that.

Can you still have a dead body
and all that legalese

where nobody can find it?

Senator, I'm not I'm not.

Quite sure what you're referring to,

but I think people get the basic deal
of using these services.

It's a free service.

You're using it to connect
to the people you care about.

If you share something with people,

other people will be able
to see your information.

It's inherently,

you know, if you're putting
something out there to be shared publicly

or with a private set of people, it's,

you know,
you're inherently putting it out there.

So I think people get that basic.

But part of how but let's.

Just talk about
you're in the foothills of creeping you

track you track you track people

who aren't even Facebook users.

You track your own people,
your own users who are your product, even

even when they're not on Facebook.

I mean, I'm going to land this plane
pretty quickly, Mr.

Chairman. I mean, it's creepy.

And I understand
you make a lot of money doing it,

but I just wonder if our technology

is greater than our humanity.

I mean, let me ask you
this final question.

Instagram

is harmful

to young people, isn't it.

Senator? I disagree with that.

That's not what the research shows.

On balance,
that doesn't mean that individual

people don't have issues
and that there aren't things that we need

to do to to help
provide the right tools for people.

But across all of the research
that we've done internally,

I mean, the survey
that the senator previously cited,

you know, there are

12 or 15 different categories of harm
that we asked

teens if they felt that Instagram
made it worse or better.

And across all of them,
except for the one that that that

that Senator Hawley cited, more
people said that using.

Instagram, I've got two lands.

Apiece, either positive or.

I would just have to agree to disagree.

If you believe that Instagram,
I know I'm not saying it's intentional,

but if you agree that Instagram,

if you think that Instagram is not hurting
millions of our young people,

particularly young teens, particularly
young women, you shouldn't be driving.

Mr. Zuckerberg,
I want to come back to you.

I talked with you about being a parent

to a young child who doesn't have a phone,

doesn't,
you know, is not on social media at all.

And one of the things
that I am deeply concerned

with as a parent to a young black girl

is the utilization of filters.

On. Your platform.

That would suggest

to young girls utilizing your platform

the evidence that they are
not good enough as they are.

I want to

ask more specifically

and refer to some unredacted court
documents.

That revealed at your own. Researchers

concluded that these face filters

that mimic plastic surgery

negatively impact youth mental

health, indeed, and well-being.

Why should we. Believe.

Why should we believe that?

Because that you are going to do more
to protect young women.

And young girls when it is that
you give them the tools to affirm the.

Self-Hate that is.

Spewed across your platforms?

Why is it that we should believe.

That you are committed to doing anything
more to keep our children safe?

Sorry, there's a lot to unpack there.

There is a lot of tools
to express themselves

in different ways, and people use face
filters and different tools

to make media and photos
and videos that are fun or interesting

across a lot of the different products
that plastic.

Surgery pens are good tools to express
creativity. Of.

Senator, I'm not speaking skin.

Lightning tools are tools. To express.

Creativity.

This is the direct thing
that I'm asking you about.

Defending any specific one of those.

I think that the ability

to kind of filter and

and edit images is generally a useful tool
for expression

for that specifically, I'm not familiar
with the study that you're referring to,

but we did make it so that we're not
recommending this type of content.

Mr. Zuckerberg, I want to begin by
just asking you a simple question,

which is, do you want
kids to use your platform more or less?

Well, we don't want people
under the age of 13 using do you.

Want teenagers 13 and up
to use your platform more or less.

What we would like to build a product

that is useful
and that people want to use.

At my time is is going to be limited.
So it's just.

Do you want them to use it? More or less?

Teenagers, 13 to 17 years old.

Do you want them using metal products?

More or less.

I'd like them to be useful enough
that they want to use them more.

And some of the children from our state,
some of the children,

the parents that we have worked with,

just to think whether it is

Becca Schmidt, David Malak,

Sarah Flat, Emily Shout,

Would you say that life is only worth

$270?

What could possibly lead you?

I mean, I listened to that.
I know you're a dad.

I'm a mom. I'm a grand mom.

And how could you possibly even
have that thought?

It is astounding to me.

And I think this
is one of the reasons that

states 42

states are now suing you
because of features that they consider

to be addictive,
that you are pushing forward.

And in the emails that we've got from 2021

that go from August to November,

there is the staff plan
that is being discussed.

And Anthony Davis,
Nick Clegg, Sheryl Sandberg, Chris Cox,

Alec Schultz,
Adam Mosseri are all on this chain

of emails on the well-being plan
and then we get to one.

Nick did email Mark for emphasis
to emphasize his support

for the package,
but it sounds like it lost out

to various other pressures in

See, this is what bothers us.

Children are not your priority.

Children are your product.

Children you see as a way to make money

and children

protecting children in this virtual space.

You made a conscious decision

even though Nick Clegg

and others

were going through the process of saying,
This is what we do,

these documents are really illuminating,

and it just shows me that

growing this business,

expanding your revenue,

what you were going to put on those
quarterly filings, that was the priority.

The children were not very clear.

I want to talk with you
about a pedophile ring,

because that came up earlier and The Wall
Street Journal reported on that.

And one of the things that we found out
was after that became evident,

then you didn't take that content down
and it was content.

It showed that teens were for sell
and were offering themselves to older men.

And you didn't take it down because it
didn't violate your community standards.

Do you know how often a child is
bought or sold for sex in this country?

Every 2 minutes.

Every 2 minutes a child

is bought or sold for sex?

That's not my stat.

That is a TBI stat

now signed like this content

was taken down
after a congressional staffer

went to MED as global head of safety.

So would you please explain to me
and to all these parents

why explicit predatory content
does not violate

your platform's terms of service
or your community standards?

Sure, Senator, let me try to address
all of the things that you just said.

It does violate our standards.

We work very hard to take.
It didn't take it down.

We've what we've reported,

I think it's more than 26 million examples
of this kind of content.

Take it down until a congressional staffer
brought it up.

It may be that in this case
we made a mistake, missed something.

I think a lot of mistake.

But we have we have a leading one that.

I want to talk with you about,
your Instagram

creator's program and about the push.

We found out through these documents
that you actually are pushing forward

because you want to bring kids in early.

You see these younger

teenagers as valuable,
but an untapped audience.

Quoting from the emails and suggesting
teens are actually household influencers

to bring their younger siblings

into your platform, into Instagram.

Now, how can you ensure that

Instagram creators, your product,

your program, does not facilitate
illegal activities

when you fail to remove content

pertaining to the sale of minors?

And it is happening once
every 2 minutes in this country.

Senator, are

tools for identifying
that kind of content or industry leading.

That doesn't mean we're perfect.

There are definitely issues that we have,
but we.

Mr.. ZUCKERBERG Yes, there are a lot
that is slipping through.

It appears that you're trying to be
the premier sex trafficking.

Force in. This country.

That's ridiculous. No,
it is not ridiculous.

You we don't.

Want this content on our platforms.

Why don't you take it down? We do.

We are here. Discuss.

We do.

We're working to take it down because.

No, you're not.

You are not.

And the problem
is, we've been working on this.

Senator Welch is over there.

We've been working on this stuff
for a decade.

You have an army of lawyers and lobbyists
that have fought us on this

every step of the way you work
with Net Choice, the Cato Institute,

Taxpayers Protection
Alliance and Chamber of Progress

to actually fight

our bipartisan legislation
to keep kids safe online.

So are you going to stop
funding these groups?

Are you going to stop lobbying
against this and come to the table

and work with this?

Yes or no?

Senator, We have a yes or no.

Of course
we'll work with you one on the ledge.

Okay.

The door is open.

We've got all these bills you need.

You need to come to the table.

Each and every one of you need to come
to the table and you need to work with us.

Kids are dying.

Chair Durbin,

Ranking Member Graham,
and members of the committee,

I appreciate the opportunity to appear
before you today.

My name is Show Chew
and I am the CEO of Tik-Tok,

an online community
of more than 1 billion people worldwide,

including well over 170 million Americans

who use our app every month to create,

to share, and to discover

that although the average age on TikTok in
the U.S.

is over 30, we recognize that special
safeguards are required to protect minors,

and especially when it comes to combating
all forms of seasonal.

As a father of three young children
myself, I know that the issues

that we're discussing today are horrific
and the nightmare of every parent.

I am proud of our efforts
to address the threats

to young people online, from a commitment
to protecting them

to our industry leading policies,
use of innovative technology

and significant ongoing investments
in trust and safety to achieve this goal.

Tick Tock is vigilant about

its 13 and up age
policy and offers an experience for teens

that is much more restrictive
than you and I would have as adults.

We make careful product design choices
to help

make our app inhospitable
to those seeking to harm teens.

Let me give you a few examples of long
standing policies that are

unique to tick tock.

We didn't do them last week.

First, direct messaging

is not available
to any users under the age of 16.

Second,

accounts for people under 16

are automatically set to private
along with their content.

Furthermore,
the content cannot be downloaded

and will not be recommended to people
they do not know.

Third, every teen under 18
has a screen time limit

automatically automatically
set to 60 minutes and fourth,

only people 18 and above are allowed to
use our live stream feature.

I'm proud

to say that TikTok was among the first
to empower parents

to supervise their teens on our app

with our family pairing tools.

This includes setting screen time
limits, filtering out

content from his feet, amongst others.

We made these choices
after consulting with doctors

and safety experts who understand
the unique stages of teenage development.

To ensure
that we have the appropriate safeguards

to prevent harm and minimize risk.

Now, safety is one of the core priorities

that defines tick tock my leadership.

We currently have more than 40,000

trust and safety professionals
working to protect our community globally,

and we expect to invest
more than $2 billion

in trust
and safety efforts this year alone.

A significant part of that, you know, U.S.

operations,

our robust

community guidelines, strictly prohibit
content or behavior that puts teenagers

at risk of exploitation or other harm,

and we vigorously enforce them

all technology, moderates,
all content uploaded to our app

to help quickly identify potential cesium
and other material that breaks our rules.

It automatically removes the content
or elevates it

to our safety professionals
for further review.

We also moderate direct messages

for season and related material
and use third party

tools like photo DNA
and take it down to combat system

to prevent content
from being uploaded to our platform.

We continually meet with parents, teachers
and teens.

In fact, I sat down with a group
just a few days ago.

We use their insight
to the protections on our platform,

and we also work with leading groups
like the Technology Coalition.

The steps that

we're taking to protect
teens are a critical part

of a larger trust and safety work
as we continue our voluntary

and unprecedented efforts to build a safe
and secure data environment for U.S.

users,
ensuring that our platform remains free

from outside manipulation
and implementing safeguards

on our content recommendation
Moderation Tools.

Keeping teens safe online requires

a collaborative effort
as well as collective action.

We share the committee's concern and
commitment to protect young people online,

and we welcome the opportunity

to work with you on legislation
to achieve this goal.

Our commitment is ongoing and unwavering

because there is no finish line
when it comes to protecting teens.

Thank you for your time and consideration
today.

I'm happy to answer your questions.

Can you explain to us
what you are doing particularly

and whether you've seen
any evidence of cesium in your business?

Yes, Ed,

we have a strong commitment
to invest in trust and safety.

And as I said in my opening statement,
I intend to invest

more than $2 billion in trust and safety
this year alone.

We have 40,000 safety professionals
working on this topic.

We have built a specialized child
safety team to help us identify

specialized issues, horrific issues like
material like the ones you have mentioned.

If we identify any on our platform
and we proactively do do it detection,

we will remove it and we will report
to a bank and other authorities.

Why is it tick tock?

Allowing children to be exploited
into performing commercialized sex acts?

A Senator.

I respectfully disagree
with that characterization.

Our live streaming product
is not for anyone below the age of 18.

We have taken action to

to identify anyone who violates
that, and we will remove them

from the from using that service.

Mr.. CHIU I'm a co-sponsor of Chair

Dermot Steps System Act of 2023,

along with Senator Hollies,
the lead Republican I believe,

which among other things empowers victims
by making it easier for them to ask

tech companies to remove the material

and related imagery from their platforms.

Why would you not support this bill?

Senator, We largely support it.

I think the spirit of it is very aligned
with what we want to do.

There are questions about implementation
that I think companies like us

and some other groups have,
and we look forward to asking those.

And of course, if this legislation is law,
we will comply.

Mr. Chiu,

I think your company is unique among
the ones represented here today

because of its ownership by Bytedance,

a Chinese company.

And I know there have been some steps
that you've taken

to wall off the data
collected here in the United States.

But the fact of the matter
is that under Chinese law

and Chinese national intelligence laws,

all information accumulated by companies
in the people's Republic of China

are required to be shared
with the Chinese intelligence services.

By Dance,

the initial release of Tik Tok,
I understand, was in 2016.

Are these efforts that you made
with Oracle

under the so-called project Texas
to wall off the U.S.

data was in 2021 that apparently

allegedly fully walled off in March of 23.

What happened to all of the data
that TikTok collected

before that?

Senator, thank you.

From American users.

Understand TikTok is owned by Bytedance,
which is majority

owned by global investors.

And we have three Americans on the board
out of five.

You are right in pointing out that over
the last three years,

we have spent billions of dollars
building out Project Texas,

which is a plan
that is unprecedented in our industry

to all our firewalled off protected us
data from the rest of our staff.

We also have I'm.

Asking about all of the data that you
collected prior to that, that event.

Yes, Senator,
we have studied the data deletion plan.

I talked about this a year ago.

We have finished the first phase
of data deletion

through our data centers outside
of the Oracle Cloud infrastructure.

And we're beginning
phase two where we will not only delete

from the data centers, we will hire
a third party to verify that work.

And then we will go into,
you know, for example, employees

working laptops to delete data as well.

As all of the data collected
by tick tock prior to Project Texas shared

with the Chinese government
pursuant to the national intelligence law,

that country.

Senator,
we have not been asked for any data

by the Chinese government
and we have never provided it.

Your company is unique, again, among the

the ones represented here today
because you're currently undergoing

review by the Committee on
Foreign Investment in the United States.

Is that correct?

Senator, Yes,
there are ongoing discussions

and a lot of our project Texas
work is informed by the

the discussions with many agencies
under the surface umbrella.

Well, Surface is designed
specifically to review foreign investments

in the states
for national security risks, correct?

Yes, I believe so.

And your company is currently
being reviewed by this interagency

committee of the
at the Treasury Department

for potential national security risks.

Senator,
this review is on a acquisition musically,

which is an acquisition
that was done many years ago.

I mean, is this a casual conversation
or are you actually providing information

to the Treasury Department about your
how your your platform operates

for evaluating
a potential national security risk?

Senator, it's
been many years across two administrations

and a lot of discussions around
how our plans are, how our systems work.

We have a lot a lot of robust discussions
about a lot of detail.

63% of teens, I understand, use Tik Tok.

Does that sound about right?

A senator, I cannot verify that.

We know we are popular amongst many age
groups.

The average age in the U.S.

today for our userbase is over 30,
but we are where we are popular.

And you reside in Singapore
with your family, correct?

Yes, I have.

I reside in Singapore and I work here
in the United States as well.

And do your children
have access to Tik in Singapore?

Senator,
if they lived in the United States,

I would give them access
to our under 13 experience.

My children are below the age of 13.

My question is in Singapore,
do they have access to Tik tok

or is that restricted by by domestic law?

We do not have an under 13 experience
in Singapore.

We have that in the United States
because we were in a mixed audience app

and we created an experience
in response to that.

A Wall
Street Journal article published yesterday

directly contradicts
what your company has stated publicly.

According to the Journal, Employees
under the project, Texas say that U.S.

user data, including user emails,

birthdate IP addresses
continue to be shared

with Bytedance's staff, again
owned by a Chinese company.

Do you dispute that?

Yes, Senator,
there are many things about that article.

They are inaccurate.

Where it gets right is that
this is a voluntary project that we built.

We spent billions of dollars.

There are thousands of employees involved
and it's very difficult

because it's unprecedented.

Why is

why is it important
that the data collected from U.S.

users be stored in the United States?

A Senator
this was a project we built in response

to some of the concerns that were raised
by members of this committee and others.

And that was because of concerns
that the data that was stored

in China could be accessed
by the Chinese Communist Party by

and according to the National Intelligence
laws.

Correct?

Senator, we are not the only
company that does business

that has Chinese employees, for example.

We're not even the only company
in this room that hires Chinese nationals.

But in order to address
some of these concerns,

we have moved the data
into the Oracle Cloud infrastructure.

We built a 2000 person team to oversee
the management of the data base here.

We fired, walled it off
from the rest of the organization,

and then we opened it up to third parties
like Oracle,

and we will onboard others
to give them third party validation.

This is unprecedented access.

I think we are unique

in taking even more steps
to protect user data in the United States.

Disputed The Wall Street
Journal story published yesterday.

Are you going to conduct
any sort of investigation to see

whether there is any truth to

the allegations made in the article?

Or are you just going to dismiss them
outright?

We're not going to dismiss them.

So we have ongoing security inspections,
not only by our own personnel,

but also by third parties to ensure
that the system is rigorous and robust.

No system that we,
any one of us can build is perfect.

But what we need to do is to make sure

that we are always improving it
and testing it against that.

People who may try to bypass it.

And if anyone breaks our policies
within our organization,

we will take disciplinary action
against them.

Mr. CHU Let's get straight to the chase.

Is tick tock under the influence
of the Chinese Communist Party?

No, Senator.

We are private business.

Okay,
So you can see that your parent Bytedance

is subject to the 2017
National Security law,

which requires Chinese companies
to turn over information

to the Chinese government
and conceal it from the rest of the world.

You can see that, correct.

Senator? The Chinese businesses.

You can say that early.

Any company

that does any global businesses
does business in China has to follow law.

Isn't it the case that Bytedance

also has an internal Chinese Communist
Party committee?

Like I said, all businesses that
operate in China have to follow the law.

So your parent company is subject
to the national security law

that requires it to answer to the party.

It has its own internal Chinese Communist
Party committee.

You answer to that parent company,

but you expect us to believe that you're

not under the influence
of the Chinese Communist Party.

I understand this concern, Senator,
which is why we built the.

But you used to work for Bytedance,
didn't you?

You were the CFO for Bytedance.

That is correct.

In April 2021, while you were the CFO,

the Chinese Communist Party's
China Internet Investment Fund purchased

a 1% stake in Bytedance's main Chinese
subsidiary, the Bite Technology Company.

In return for that so-called
1% golden share.

The party took one of three board seats
at that subsidiary company.

That's correct, doesn't it?

It's for the Chinese business.

Is that correct?

It is for the Chinese that.

That deal was finalized on April
30th, 2021.

Is it true that you were appointed
the CEO of Tik Tok?

The very next day on May one, 2021?

Well, this is a coincidence.

It's a coincidence.

It is. The CFO.

Senator of the.

Chinese Communist Party, took its golden
chair and its board seat.

And the very next day,
you were appointed the CEO of Tik Tok.

That's a hell of a coincidence.
It really is, Senator.

It is.

Okay.

And before Bytedance,
you were at a Chinese company called Zhao

Me, is that correct?

Yes. I used to work around the world.

Where did you live
when you worked at Jamie?

I lived in China like. Many experts.

Where exactly?

In Beijing. In China.

How many years did you live in Beijing?

Senate.
I worked there for about five years.

So you lived there five years? Yes.

Is it the case that Zhao Mi was sanctioned
by the United States

government in 2021 for being a communist
Chinese military company?

I'm here to talk about tech, I think.

I think they then had a lawsuit
and it was overturned.

I can't remember that.

No, no.

It's another company by an administration
that reversed those sanctions, just like,

by the way, they reversed the terrorist
designation on the WHO Houthis in Yemen.

How's that working out for them?

But it was sanctioned
as a Chinese communist military company.

So you said today, as you often say,
that you live in Singapore.

Of what nation are you? A citizen?

Singapore.

Are you a citizen of any other nation?

No, Senator.

Have you ever applied
for Chinese citizenship?

Senator, I serve my nation in Singapore.

No, I did not.

Do you have a Singaporean passport?

Yes. And I served my military
for two and a half years in Singapore.

Have any other.
Do you have any other passports?

Many other notes.

Your wife is an American citizen.

Your children are American citizens.
That's correct.

Have you ever applied
for American citizenship?

Not no, not yet. Okay.

Have you ever been
a member of the Chinese Communist Party?

Senator. I'm Singaporean. No.

Have you ever been associated
or affiliated with the Chinese Communist

Party?
No, Senator. Again, I'm Singaporean.

Let me ask you some
hopefully simple question.

You said earlier in response to a question
about what happened at Tiananmen

Square in June of 1989
was a massive protest.

Anything else happened in Tiananmen
Square?

Yes, I think it's well documented.
There was a massacre.

There was indiscriminate slaughter of
hundreds or thousands of Chinese citizens.

Do you agree with the Trump administration
and the Biden administration

that the Chinese government is committing
genocide against the weaker people?

Senator, I've said this before.

I think it's really important

that anyone who cares about this topic
or any topic can freely express

themselves on TikTok.

It's a very simple question

that unites both parties in our country
and governments around the world.

Is the Chinese government committing
genocide against the weaker people?

Senator, anyone, including you,
can come in to talk about this.

Topic asking you. Any topic.

United States,

cosmopolitan, well-educated man who's
expressed many opinions on many topics.

Is the Chinese government committing
genocide against the weaker people?

Actually, Senator,
I talk about many about my company,

and I'm here to talk about what
Trump does. Yes or not, you're here.

We allow you're here to give testimony
that's truthful and honest and complete.

Let me ask you this.

Joe Biden last year
said that Jinping was a dictator.

Do you agree with Joe Biden,
the paying a dictator?

Senator, I'm not going to comment on
any world leaders.

Why won't you answer these
very simple questions?

Senator, it's not appropriate.

Are you serious
and spent to come in a world leader?

Are you scared that you'll lose your job
if you say anything

about negative
about the Chinese Communist Party?

I disagree that you will find content
that is critical of China, and I'll.

Tell you next time you go.

Are you scared that you'll be arrested
and disappear

the next time you go to mainland China?

Senator, you will find content
that is critical of China

and any other country freely on TikTok.

Okay. Okay.

Let's let let's turn to what
Tik Tok, a tool of the Chinese Communist

Party is doing to America's youth.

Does the does
the name Mason Edens ring a bell?

Senator, you may have to
give me more specifics, if you don't mind.

Yeah.

He was a 16 year old Arkansan
after a break up in 2022.

He went on your platform and searched

for things like inspirational quotes
and positive affirmations.

Instead, he was served up numerous videos
glamorizing suicide

until he killed himself by gun.

What about the name Chase?

NASCAR?

Does that ring a bell?

Would you mind giving me more details?

He was a 16 year old
who saw more than a thousand videos

on your platform
about violence and suicide

until he took his own life
by stepping in front of a plane or train.

Are you aware that his parents, Dean
and Michelle, suing

TikTok and Bytedance for pushing their
son to take his own life?

Yes, I'm aware of that.

Okay.

Finally, Mr.

Chew, has the Federal Trade
Commission sued TikTok

during the Biden administration?

Senator,
I cannot talk about whether there's any.

Are you being.

Are you currently being sued
by the Federal Trade Commission?

Senator, I cannot talk about
any potential lawsuits.

Related to actual you being sued
by the Federal Trade Commission.

Senator, I think I've given you my answer.

I cannot talk about no.

Mrs. Jack Company is being sued,
I believe.

Mr. Zuckerberg's company is being sued,
I believe.

Yet Tik Tok,
the agent of the Chinese Communist

Party, is not being sued
by the Biden administration.

Are you familiar with

the name Christina Canfora?

You may have to give me more.

Christina Carfora was a paid adviser
to Bytedance,

your communist influenced parent company.

She was then hired by the Biden
FTC to advise on how to sue Mr.

Zuckerberg's company.

Senator Biden, this is a global company
and not a Chinese Communist Party.

The company is owned by global investors.

Public reports indicate

that your lobbyist visited the White House
more than 40 times in 2022.

How many times did your company visit?

Did your company's lobbyist visit
the White House last year?

I don't know that.

Are you
are you aware that the Biden campaign

and the Democratic National Committee
is on your platform?

They have Tik Tok accounts.

Senator, we encourage people to come on,
which, by the way, they don't.

They won't let their staffers
use their personal phones.

They give them separate phones
that they only use Tik Tok on.

We encourage everyone to join,
including myself, Senator.

So all these companies are being sued
by the FTC.

You're not the FTC has a former paid
adviser, your parent,

talking about how they can sue Mr.

Zuckerberg's company,
Joe Biden's reelection campaign.

The Democratic National Committee
is on your platform.

Let me ask you,
have you or anyone else at Tik Tok

communicated with or coordinated
with the Biden administration,

the Biden campaign
or the Democratic National Committee

to influence the flow of
information on your platform?

We work with

anyone, any creators who want to use
our campaign is all of the same process.

So what we have,

we have a company that is a tool of the
Chinese Communist Party that is poisoning

the minds of America's children,
in some cases driving to suicide,

and that at best, the Biden administration
is taking a pass on.

At worst, may be in collaboration with.

Thank you, Mr. Chu. Mr. Chu.

How many minors on Tik Tok

and how many of them have a caregiver
that uses your family tools?

Senator, I need to get back to you
on the specific numbers, but

we were one of the first platforms to give
what we call family pairing to parents.

You go to settings, you turn on the QR
code, your teenagers, Kyoko and yours,

you scan it.

And what it allows you to do is
you can set screen time limits,

you can filter out some keywords,
you can turn on a more restricted mode.

And we are always talking to parents.

I met a group of parents and teenagers
and high school teachers last week

to talk about what more we can provide
in the family pairing mode.

Chairman Durbin,

Ranking Member Graham,
and members of the Committee,

thank you for convening this hearing
and for moving forward.

Important Legislation
to Protect Children Online.

I'm Evan SPIEGEL,
the co-founder and CEO of SNAP.

We created Snapchat, an online service
that is used by more than 800 million

people worldwide to communicate
with their friends and family.

I know that many of you have been working

to protect children online
since before Snapchat was created,

and we are grateful for your long term
dedication to this cause

and your willingness to work together
to help keep our community safe.

I want to acknowledge the survivors
of online harms and the families

who are here today
who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

Words cannot begin
to express the profound sorrow.

I feel that a service

we designed to bring people happiness
and joy has been abused to cause harm.

I want to be clear that we understand

our responsibility
to keep our community safe.

I also want to recognize the many families
who have worked to raise awareness

on these issues, pushed for change,
and collaborated with lawmakers

on important legislation like, the Cooper
Davis Act, which can help save lives.

I started building Snapchat
with my co-founder, Bobby Murphy,

when I was 20 years old.

We designed Snapchat
to solve some of the problems

that we experienced online
when we were teenagers.

We didn't have an alternative
to social media that meant pictures shared

online were permanent public and subject
to popularity metrics.

It didn't feel very good.

We built Snapchat differently
because we wanted a new way

to communicate with our friends.

That was fast, fun and private.

A picture is worth a thousand,

so people communicate
with images and videos on Snapchat.

We don't have public likes or comments
when you share your story with friends.

Snapchat is private by default, meaning
that people need to opt in to add friends

and choose who can contact them.

When we built
Snapchat, we chose to have the images

and videos sent through our service
delete by default.

Unlike prior generations
who've enjoyed like prior generations

who've enjoyed the privacy afforded
by phone calls which aren't recorded.

Our generation has benefited
from the ability to share moments

through Snapchat

that may not be picture perfect, but
instead convey emotion without permanence.

Even those Snapchat messages
are deleted by default.

We let everyone know that images
and videos can be saved by the recipient.

When we take action on illegal
or potentially harmful content,

we also retain the evidence
for an extended period which allows us

to support law enforcement
and hold criminals accountable

to help prevent
the spread of harmful content on Snapchat.

We approve the content that is recommended
on our service using a combination

of automated processes and human review.

We apply our content rules consistently
and fairly across all accounts.

We run samples of our enforcement actions
through quality assurance to verify

that we are getting it right.

We also proactively scan for known child
sexual abuse, material,

drug related content,
and other types of harmful content.

Remove that content, deactivate and device
block accounts,

preserve the evidence for law enforcement,
and report certain content

to the relevant authorities
for further action.

Last year, we made 690,000 reports.

The National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children,

leading to more than 1000 arrests.

We also removed 2.2 million pieces of drug

related content
and blocked 705,000 associated accounts.

Even with our strict privacy
settings, content moderation efforts,

proactive detection, and law enforcement
collaboration.

Bad things can still happen
when people use online services.

That's why we believe
that people under the age of

13 are not ready
to communicate on Snapchat.

We strongly encourage parents
to use the device level

parental controls on iPhone and Android.

We use them in our own household.

And my wife's wife approves every app
that our 13 year old downloads.

For parents
who want more visibility and control,

we build a family center in Snapchat
where you can view

who your teen is talking to, review
privacy settings and set content limits.

We have worked for years with members
of the committee on Legislation

like the Kids Online Safety Act

and the Cooper Davis Act,
which we are proud to support.

I want to encourage broader industry

support for legislation
protecting children online.

No legislation is perfect, but some rules
of the road are better than none.

Much of the work
that we do to protect people that use

our service would not be possible
without the support of our partners

across the industry, government,
nonprofit organizations, NGOs,

and in particular law enforcement
and the first responders

who have committed their lives to helping
keep people safe.

I am profoundly grateful for the
extraordinary efforts across our country

and around the world to prevent criminals
from using online services to perpetrate

their crimes.

I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude

for the opportunities that this country
has afforded me and my family.

I feel a deep obligation to give back
and to make a positive difference.

And I'm grateful to be here today

as part of this
vitally important democratic process.

Members of the committee,

I give you my commitment that we will be
part of the solution for online safety.

We will be honest about our shortcomings
and we will work continuously to improve.

Thank you.

And I look forward
to answering your questions.

It's never been a secret.

The Snapchat Snapchat is used to send

sexually explicit images in 2013.

Earlier in your company's history,
you admitted this in an interview.

Do you remember that interview?

Senator,
I don't recall the specific interview.

You said that when you were first trying
to get people on the app, you would,

quote, go up to the people and be like,
Hey, you should try this application.

You can send disappearing photos.

And they would say, for sexting,

Do you remember that interview?

Senator, when we first created
the application, it was actually called

Pick a Boo.

And the idea was around disappearing
images.

The feedback
we received from people using the app

is that they were actually
using it to communicate.

So we changed the name of the application
to Snapchat

and we found that people were using it
to talk visually.

As early as 2017, law enforcement
identified Snapchat

as the pedophile
go to sexual exploitation to the case

of a 12 year old girl identified in court
only as L.W.

shows the danger.

Over two and a half years of predators
sexually groomed her,

sending her ex sexually explicit
images and videos over Snapchat.

The man admitted that
he only used Snapchat with LW

and not any other platforms because he,
quote, knew the chats would go away.

Did you or Eric and everyone else at SNAP
really fail

to see that the platform
was the perfect tool for sexual predators?

Sir, that behavior is disgusting
and reprehensible.

We provide in-app reporting tools
so that people who are being harassed

or who have been shared inappropriate
sexual content

can report it in the case of harassment
or sexual content.

We typically respond to those reports

within 15 minutes
so that we can provide help.

When LW, the victim sued Snapchat.

Her case was dismissed under Section
230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Do you have any doubt that head snap face
the prospect of civil liability

for facilitating sexual exploitation?

The company would have implemented
even better safeguards?

Senator, We already work extensively to
proactively detect this type of behavior.

We make it very difficult for predators
to find teens on Snapchat.

There are no public friends lists,
no public profile photos.

When we recommend friends

for teens, we make sure that they have
several mutual friends in common.

Before making that recommendation.

And we believe those safeguards
are important

to preventing predators
from misusing our platform.

Mr. SPIEGEL.

I know we talked ahead of time.

I do appreciate your company support
for the Cooper Davis Act,

which will finally, it's a bill
with Senators Shaheen and Marshall,

which will allow law enforcement
to do more when it comes to fentanyl.

I think you know what a problem this is.

Devon Narang, teenagers from Hastings.

I mentioned his mom here
suffering dental pain and migraines.

So he bought
what he thought was a Percocet over snap.

But instead he bought a counterfeit drug
laced with a legal

lethal dose of fentanyl.

As his mom, who's here with us
today, said, all of the hopes and dreams

we as parents had for
Devon were erased in the blink of an eye.

And no mom should have to bury their kid.

Talk about why you
support the Cooper Davis act.

Senator, thank you.

We strongly support the Cooper Davis act,
and we believe it will help DEA

go after the cartels and get more dealers
off the streets to save more lives.

Mr. SPIEGEL, how many minors use Snapchat?

And of those minors,
how many have caretakers

that are registered
with your family center?

Senator I believe approximately.

In the United States,
there are approximately 20 million

teenage users of Snapchat,
I believe approximately 200,000 parents

use family center
and about 400,000 teens are linked

their account to their parents
using family center.

So 20,000 400,000
sounds like a big number,

but small in percentage of the minors
using Snapchat.

What are you doing to ensure
that young people

or guardians are aware of the tools
you offer?

So we create a banner for family center
on the users profiles.

So the accounts we believe
may be at the age that they could be.

Parents can see the entry point
into family center easily.

Mr. SPIEGEL There are a number of parents
whose children have been able.

To access.

Illegal drugs. On your platform.

What do you say to those parents

or. Center
We are devastated that we cannot.

Tell the parents.

What do you say to those parents? Mr.

SPIEGEL I'm sorry that we have
not been able to prevent these tragedies.

We work very hard to block all search
terms related to drugs from our platform.

We proactively look for and detect drug
related content.

We remove it from our platform,
preserve it as evidence,

and then we refer it to law enforcement
for action.

We've worked together with nonprofits
and with families on education campaigns

because the scale of the fentanyl
epidemic is extraordinary.

Over 100,000
people lost their lives last year.

And we believe people need to know
that one pill can kill that campaign.

Reach.

More than 200 was viewed
more than 260 million times on Snapchat.

My name is Jason Citron

and I am the co-founder
and CEO of Discord.

We are an American company

with about 800 employees
living and working in 33 states.

Today, discord has grown to more

than 150 million monthly active users.

Discord is a communications platform

where friends hang out and talk online
about shared interests

from fantasy sports
to writing music to video games.

I've been playing video games
since I was five years old, and as a kid

it's how I had fun and found friendship.

Many of my fondest memories are

of playing video games with friends.

We built Discord
so that anyone could build friendships.

Playing video games from Minecraft to Will
and everything in between.

Games have always brought us together.

And Discord makes that happen. Today

Discord is one of the many services
that have revolutionized

how we communicate with each other
in the different moments of our lives.

I message Zoom, Gmail and on and on.

They enrich our lives, create communities,

accelerate commerce,
health care and education.

Just like with all technology and tools,
there are people who exploit

and abuse our platforms
for immoral and illegal purposes.

All of us here on the panel today
and throughout the tech industry

have a solemn and urgent responsibility
to ensure that.

Everyone who uses our. Platforms.

Is protected from these criminals,
both online and off.

This court has a special responsibility
to do

because a lot of our users
are young people.

More than 60% of our active users

are between the ages of 13 and 24.

It's why safety is built into everything
we do.

It's essential to
our mission and our business.

And most of all, this is deeply personal.

I'm a dad with two kids.

I want this court to be a product
that they use

and love, and I want them to be safe.

On Discord.

I Want them to be proud of me for helping

to bring this product to the world.

That's why I am pleased to be here today

to discuss the important
topic of the online safety of minors.

My written testimony provides
a comprehensive overview of our safety

programs.

Here are a few examples of how we protect

and empower young people.

First, we've put our money into safety.

The tech sector has a reputation of larger
companies buying smaller ones

to increase user numbers
and boost financial results.

But the largest acquisition
we've ever made

at Dischord was a company called Center P.

It didn't help us expand our market share
or improve our bottom line.

In fact,
because it uses AI to help us identify,

ban and report criminals and bad behavior,

it has actually lowered our user count
by getting rid of bad actors.

Second,

you've heard of end encryption
that locks anyone,

including the platform itself,
from seeing users communications.

It's a feature on dozens of platforms,

but not on discord.

That's a choice we've made.

We don't believe
we can fulfill our safety obligations

if the text messages of teens
are fully encrypted

because encryption block our ability
to investigate a serious situation

and when appropriate, report
to law enforcement.

Third, we have a zero tolerance policy

on child sexual abuse, material or csam.

We scan images uploaded to discord
to detect

and block
the sharing of this abhorrent material.

We've also built an innovative tool
Teen Safety assists that blocks explicit

images and helps young people
easily report unwelcome conversations.

We've also developed a new semantic
hashing technology

for detecting novel
forms of CSM called Clip,

and we're sharing technology with other
platforms to the tech coalition.

Finally,
we recognize that improving online

safety requires
all of us to work together.

So we partner with nonprofits,
law enforcement and our tech colleagues

to stay ahead of the curve
in protecting young people online.

We want to be the platform that empowers
our users to have better online

experiences,
to build true connections, genuine

friendships, and to have fun.

Senators,
I sincerely hope today is the beginning

of an ongoing dialog that results
in real improvements in online safety.

I look forward to your questions

and to helping the committee
learn more about this court.

What it says is a civil liability.

If you intentionally or knowingly host
or store

child sexual abuse materials
or make child sex

abuse materials available.

Secondly,
intentionally or knowingly promote or aid

and abet a violation of child
sexual exploitation laws.

Is there anyone here who believes

you should not be held civilly liable
for that type of conduct?

Mr. Citron.

Good morning, Chair.

You know, we very much

believe that this content is disgusting
and that

there are many things about the autopsy,
Bill, that I think are very encouraging.

And we very much support
adding more resources

for the cyber tip line and and modernizing
that along with

giving more resources to fact check.

And we're very

open to having conversations with

you and your team to talk
through the details of the bill some more.

I sure would like to do that,
because if you intentionally or knowingly

post or store cesium, I think you ought
to at least civilly liable.

I can't imagine anyone who would disagree
with that.

It's disgusting. Content certainly is.

That's why we need
you supporting this legislation.

Mr. Citron,
according to Discord's website,

it takes a, quote, proactive
and automated approach

to safety only on servers
with more than 200 members.

Smaller servers rely on

server owners and community moderators
to define and enforce behavior.

So how do you defend an approach to safety
that relies on groups of fewer than 200

sexual predators to report themselves
for things like grooming,

trading a C scam or sextortion?

I'm sure our our goal is to
is to get all of that content

off of our platform and ideally prevent it
from showing up in the first place

or from people engaging
in these kind of horrific activities.

We deploy a wide array of techniques
that work

across every surface on our on discord.

And I mentioned we recently launched
something called Teen Safety Assist,

which works everywhere,
and it's on by default for teen users.

That kind of acts like a buddy
that lets them know

if they're in a situation or talking
with someone that may be inappropriate

so they can report that to us
and block that user.

So we determine if that were working,
we wouldn't be here today.

So this is an ongoing challenge
for all of us.

That is why we're here today.

But we we do have
50% of our company is focused

on trust and safety, of which
this is one of our top issues

that's more people than we have working on
marketing and promoting the company.

So we take these issues very seriously,

but we know it's an ongoing challenge
and I look forward to working with you

and collaborating with our tech peers
and the nonprofits to

to improve our approach.

Mr. Citron, you

we need to start a discussion.

be honest with you.

We've been having this discussion
for a very long time.

We need to get a result, not a discussion.

Do you agree with that?

I'm ranking member. I agree.

This is an issue
that we've also been very focused on.

We started our company 2013,
but this is the first.

Are you familiar with the Earn It Act,
authored by myself and Sir and Blumenthal?

A little bit, yes.

Okay. Do you support that?

We like yes or no?

We're not prepared to support it today,
but we believe in section.

Support the CSM Act. The stop CSM Act.

We are not prepared to support it.

Would you support. The SHIELD Act?

We we believe that the cyber tip line
support it.

Yes or no?

We we believe that the cyber tip line and.

That to be know the Project Safe
Childhood Act, you support it.

We believe that.

I'll tell you that if you know the report
act do you support it?

Ranking Member Graham We very much
look forward to having conversations

with you and your team.

I look forward to passing
the bill will solve the problem.

Do you support removing

Section 230 liability protections
for social media companies?

I believe that Section 230
is needs to be updated.

It's a very old law.

I do support repealing it so people can
sue if they believe they're harmed.

I think that Section 230 as written,

while it has many downsides,
has enabled innovation on the Internet,

which I think is largely.
Thank you very much.

So I'm going to start with that
with you, Mr.

Citron.

My bill was Senator Cornyn.

The Shield Act includes a threat provision
that would help protection

and accountability for those
that are threatened by these predators.

Yanking kids, get a picture, send it in.

Think they got a new girlfriend
or a new boyfriend, ruins their life

or they think it's going to be ruined
and they kill themselves.

So could you tell me
why you're not supporting the Shield Act?

Senator, we we think it's very important

that teens have a safe experience
on our platforms.

I think that the the the the portion
to strengthen law enforcement's ability

to investigate crimes against children
and hold bad actors accountable is.

So you're holding open
that you may support it.

We very much
would like to have conversations with you.

We're open to discussing further
and we do welcome legislation, regulation.

This is a very important issue
for our country

and we've been prioritizing safety
for change.

What about you, Mr. Citron, on Discord?

Do you have

to allow kids to have accounts

to access encrypted messaging?

Discord is not allowed
to be used by children

under the age of 13, and we do not use
end to end encryption for text messages.

You know, we believe that it's
very important to be able to respond to

welfare and law enforcement requests, too.

And we're also working
on proactively building technology.

We're working with a nonprofit
called Thorn

to build a grooming classifier
so that our teen Safety forces feature

can actually identify these conversations
if they might be happening

so we can intervene
and give those teens tools

to get out of that situation
or potentially

even report those conversations
and those people to law enforcement.

Mr. Citron This discord allows
pornography on its site.

Now, reportedly, 17% of minors
who use discord has have

had online sexual interactions
on your platform, 17% and 10%

have those

interactions with someone
that the minor believed

to be an adult to restrict minors from

from accessing servers

that host pornographic material on them.

Senator Yes, we do restrict

minors from accessing content
that is marked for adults.

Discord also does not recommend
content to people.

Discord As a chat app.

We do not have a feed or an algorithm
that boosts content,

so we allow adults to share content
with other adults

in adult label spaces and we do not
allow teens to access that content.

Okay.

Let me continue with a follow up
question for Mr.

Citron.

In addition, keeping parents informed
about the nature of various Internet

services is a lot more we obviously need
to do for today's purposes.

Well, many companies offer a broad range
of quote unquote user empowerment tools.

It's helpful to understand whether young
people even find these tools helpful.

So I appreciate you
sharing your teen safety

assist and the tools
and how you're advertising it.

But have you conducted any assessments

of how these features are impacting
minors?

Use of your platform?

Our intention is to is to give teens
tools capabilities that they can use

to keep themselves safe and also so
our teams can help keep teen safe.

We recently launched Teen Safety Assists
last year and we do not have a study

off the top of my head that we'd be happy
to follow up with you on that.

Chairman Durbin,

Ranking Member Graham, and esteemed

members of the Committee,
thank you for the opportunity

to discuss X's work to protect

the safety of minors online.

Today's hearing is titled A Crisis,

which calls for immediate Action.

As a mother, this is personal,

and I share the sense of urgency.

X is an entirely new company,

an indispensable platform
for the world and for democracy.

You have

my personal commitment
that X will be active

and a part of this solution.

While I joined X only in June of 2023,

I bring a history of working together
with governments

advocates and NGOs to harness

the power of media to protect people.

Before I joined,
I was struck the leadership steps

this new company was taking to protect
children.

X is not the platform

of choice for, children and teens.

We do not have a line of business
dedicated to children,

children under the age of 13

are not allowed to open an account.

Less than 1% of the U.S.

users on X
are between the ages of 13 and 17,

and those users are automatically

set to a private default setting

and cannot accept a message
from anyone they do not approve.

In the last 14 months,

X has made material changes
to protect minors.

Our policy is clear.

X has zero tolerance towards

any material that features or promotes

child sexual exploitation.

My written testimony details

X's extensive policies on content

or actions that are prohibited and include

grooming, blackmail

and identifying alleged victims of CSEA.

We've also strengthened our enforcement
with more tools

and technology to prevent those bad actors
from distributing.

Searching for
and engaging with CSC content.

If CSC content is posted on X,
we remove it.

And now we also remove any account

that engages with CSC content,
whether it is real

or computer generated.

Last year,

X suspended 12.4 million accounts

for violating our CSC policies.

This is up from 2.3 million accounts

that were removed by Twitter in 2022.

In 2023,

850,000 reports were sent to NECC MC,

including our first ever
auto generated report.

This is eight times more than was reported

by Twitter in 2020 to

We've changed our priorities.

We've restructured
our trust in safety teams

to remain strong and agile.

We are building a Trust
and Safety Center of Excellence

in Austin, Texas, to bring more agents

in-house, to accelerate our impact.

We're applying to the Technology
Coalitions project Lantern,

to make further industry
wide progress and impact.

We've also opened up our algorithms

for increased transparency.

We want America to lead in solution.

X commends the Senate
for passing the Report Act,

and we support the SHIELD Act.

It Is time for a federal standard
to criminalize

the sharing
of non-consensual intimate material?

Need to

raise
the standards across the entire Internet

ecosystem,
especially for those tech companies

that are not here today
and not stepping up.

X supports the Stop CSM Act.

The Kids Online
Safety Act should continue to progress

and we will support the continuation
to engage with it

and ensure the protections
of the freedom of speech.

There are two additional areas

that require everyone's attention.

First,

as the daughter of a police officer,

law enforcement

must have the critical resources

to bring these bad offenders to justice.

Second, with artificial intelligence

offenders, tactics
will continue to sophisticate and evolve.

Industry collaboration is imperative here.

X believes that the freedom of speech

and platform safety can and must coexist.

We agree that now is the time

to act with urgency.

Thank you.

I look forward
to answering your questions.

D Report the absolute number
of how many images.

Or how often posts and accounts
that we've taken down in 2023.

We've taken over
almost a million posts down

that in regards
to mental health and self-image. Ms.

PERINO Based on your understanding
of existing law, what might it take

for a person
to have those images remove, say, from x

eye? Senator Lee Thank you.

It sounds like what you're going
to introduce into law

in terms of ecosystem
wide and use her consent

sounds exactly like part of the philosophy

of why we're supporting the SHIELD Act.

And no one should have to endure
non-consensual images.

Being Michelle Carino,
how many minors use X

and are you planning to implement
safety measures or guidance

for caretakers
like you're sure companies have?

Thank you, Senator.

Less 1% of all U.S.

users are between the ages of 13 and 17.

Less than 1%.

How many of 90 million U.S. users?

So still hundreds of thousands continue.

Yes. Yes.

And every single one is very important.

Being a 14 month old company,
we have reprioritized child

protection and safety measures
and we have just begun to talk about

and discuss how we can enhance
those with parental controls.

Michelle
Guarino, have you talked to parents

directly, young people,
about designing your product

as a new leader of X?

The answer's yes.

I've spoken to them
about the behavioral patterns,

even because less than 1% of our users
are in that age group.

But you have spoken to them.

A lot of examples of a young person

finding out about an image that is of them

and really compromises them
and actually can create suicidal thoughts.

And they want to call up or they want
to send an email and say, take it down.

I mean, why is it not possible
for that to be responded to immediately?

Well, we all strive to take down any type

of violative content
or disturbing content immediately.

At X, we have increased our capability
to start reporting process.

I'm a parent or I'm a kid
and I want this down.

Shouldn't there be a message in place
where it comes down?

You can see what the image is.