Zuckerberg apologizes to parents during US Senate hearing. A secret war is raging over water in Spain

In an unusual gesture, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg apologized at a US Senate hearing to parents whose children had been harmed by using the company’s online platforms. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” Zuckerberg, 39, told the family members present on Wednesday, some of whom held up photos of their children. “It’s terrible.”

The hearing, which lasted several hours, addressed issues such as the spread of child pornography (depictions of serious sexual abuse of children), as well as bullying and social pressure, which leads to eating disorders.

In addition to Zuckerberg, Tiktok boss Chouzi Chew, Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel, Discord boss Jason Citron and the head of the online platform X (formerly Twitter), Linda Yaccarino, were invited to Washington. As is often the case in such hearings, the senators made sharp accusations against the companies. In particular, they accused Zuckerberg’s Facebook company Meta of ignoring the safety of children and young people on the platform in the pursuit of profit. Zuckerberg has rejected this.

There are several laws in the works in the US Congress that would, among other things, make it possible to hold online platforms liable for knowingly distributing child pornographic content. The senators called on corporate bosses to support the bills. In the US, online services are shielded from responsibility for posts published by users, but must take action if they become aware of illegal and problematic content. The platforms also try to proactively filter out such messages using, among other things, automated software. (sda/dpa)