Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) put Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on blast over his empty promises and failures to protect kids online during the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing.
Tennessee Parents Are Tired Of Instagram’s Empty Promises
“Today I am just a little bit frustrated. I’m frustrated because this is now the fourth time in the past two years that we have spoken with someone from Meta, as you are now calling yourselves. I feel like the conversation continues to repeat itself ad nauseam.”
“They continue to hear from you that ‘change is coming,’ ‘things are going to be different,’ ‘there are going to be more tools in the toolbox,’ ‘kids are going to be safer online,’ ‘privacy is to be protected,’ and ‘data is going to be secure.’ But guess what? Nothing changes. Nothing.”
Half-Measures Are Not Enough To Protect Kids And Teens Online
“Yesterday at 3:00am, which is midnight in Silicon Valley, you released a list of product updates that you said would raise the standard for protecting teens and supporting parents online. I’m not sure what hours you all keep in California, but where I’m from, the middle of the night is when you drop the news that you don’t want people to see.”
“Maybe you thought that doing it in this manner would keep members of this subcommittee from seeing it right away and from raising concerns. Because while I’m sure you know that we fully share the goal of protecting kids and teens online, what we aren’t sure about is how the half-measures you’ve introduced are going to get us to the point where we need to be to truly protect teens and young adults online.”
We Cannot Wait Any Longer To Pass Substantive Online Reform
“So while Instagram is touting all these safety measures, they aren’t even making sure that these safety measures are in effect. For me, this is a case of too little too late, because now there is bipartisan momentum, both here and in the House to tackle these problems we are seeing with Big Tech.”
“As Senator Blumenthal said, we are working on children’s privacy, online privacy, data security, and Section 230 reforms. This is the appropriate time to pass a national consumer privacy bill, as well as kid-specific legislation to keep minors safe online. We also need to give serious thought to how companies like Facebook and Instagram continue to hide behind Section 230’s liability shield when it comes to content like human trafficking, sex trafficking, and drug trafficking.”
