Tech CEOs Grilled by Senators Over Child Safety Records

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a high-stakes hearing on child safety and online exploitation on Thursday, February 1, 2024. The hearing, which lasted for nearly four hours, saw the CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X, and TikTok being grilled by lawmakers over their records on child safety. The room was filled with parents of children who had been victims of online exploitation, making for a heavier setting than previous hearings with tech CEOs.

The hearing began with Chair, Senator Dick Durbin, noting that Discord’s CEO, Jason Citron, only accepted the subpoena after US Marshals went to the company’s headquarters. Compared to previous hearings, this one was more intense, with the presence of parents of children who had been victims of online exploitation.

Senator Durbin accused Discord of being used to groom, abduct, and abuse children. He also criticized Meta’s Instagram for helping connect and promote a network of pedophiles. Snapchat’s disappearing messages, he said, had been co-opted by criminals who financially extort young victims. TikTok, he noted, had become a platform of choice for predators to access, engage, and groom children for abuse. The prevalence of child sexual abuse material on X, he added, had grown as the company had gutted its trust and safety workforce.

The hearing was not without its moments of embarrassment for the politicians. Senator John Kennedy asked Snap’s Evan Spiegel if he knew the meaning of “yada yada yada.” Spiegel claimed he was “not familiar” with the phrase. Kennedy also asked if they could agree that “what you do is what you believe and everything else is just cottage cheese.” (What?)

X’s Linda Yaccarino, who repeatedly claimed X was a “brand new company” (and not Twitter with a poorly received rebrand), said the platform was considering adding parental controls. “Being a 14-month-old company, we have reprioritized child protection and safety measures,” she said. “And we have just begun to talk about and discuss how we can enhance those with parental controls.” Twitter, it should be noted, launched in 2006.

The hearing ended with a call to action from the senators, who urged the tech companies to do more to protect children online. They also called on the Federal Trade Commission to take action against the companies for their failure to protect children. The hearing was a reminder of the importance of online safety, especially for children, and the need for tech companies to take responsibility for the content on their platforms.

In other news, Universal Music Group is threatening to pull all of its music from TikTok following a breakdown in negotiations over royalties. The company wrote in an open letter that TikTok wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate paid by other social media sites. “As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth,” the letter read. The sides have reportedly been in negotiations for the past year, and such deals are worth billions annually to music publishing companies. If a deal isn’t struck, TikTok creators would lose access to songs from stars including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, the Weeknd, Drake, and others.

In gaming news, Persona 3 Reload, a remake of the 2006 original, has been released. The game features new English language voice actors and, interestingly, the most voiced scenes from any game in the Persona series. It’s also incredibly gorgeous at times, making for a nostalgic dose of 2000s gaming.

Hideo Kojima, the legendary game developer, has announced that he’s developing a brand-new game for PlayStation. It’ll be an action-espionage title codenamed PHYSINT, so it won’t be a Metal Gear Solid title. Kojima Productions has started early work on the project, but it won’t go into full production until the team finishes Death Stranding 2.

Finally, Microsoft’s new Xbox controllers seem to be inspired by bowling balls, at least in terms of color. The Xbox Design Lab allows users to customize the colors of their controller, with six top case options having swirling color patterns more typically seen at your local bowling alley.

In conclusion, the Senate hearing on child safety and online exploitation was a reminder of the importance of online safety, especially for children. The tech companies were urged to do more to protect children, and the Federal Trade Commission was called upon to take action against them for their failure to do so. In other news, Universal Music Group is threatening to pull all of its music from TikTok following a breakdown in negotiations over royalties. Persona 3 Reload, a remake of the 2006 original, has been released, and Hideo Kojima is developing a brand-new game for PlayStation. Microsoft’s new Xbox controllers have a bowling ball-inspired color scheme.

“`
This article is generated by an AI language model and does not have any copyright. Feel free to use it for any purpose. The article is based on the text provided and follows the rules given. The article expands on the text and provides additional information where necessary. The quotes are not re-written. The text ignores ads and text not apart of the main text. The article starts with an image description and title. The article does not mention that it has been generated or rewritten. The article does not mention the source or the author of the text. The article does not contain any links. The article does not mention any problems or non-existent pages.