The CEOs of five social media companies are heading to Washington to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child safety. The hearing will feature Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, Discord CEO Jason Citron and X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
The group will confront lawmakers over their record on child exploitation and their efforts to protect teens using their services. The hearings will be starting at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 31.
Although there have been previous hearings focused on teen safety, Wednesday's event will be the first time Congress will hear directly from Spiegel, Yaccarino and Citron. It's also only the second appearance for TikTok's Chew, who has been questioned by lawmakers over the app's security record and its ties to China. .
Zuckerberg, of course, is now well accustomed to these audiences. But he will likely face particular pressure from lawmakers following a number of allegations about Meta's security practices that have come to light in recent months following of 41 state attorneys general. Court documents from the suit allege that Meta became a to children under 13 using its service, to stop adults from sexually harassing teenagers on Facebook and that Zuckerberg personally to stop efforts to ban plastic surgery filters on Instagram.
As in previous hearings with tech CEOs, it's unclear what significant policy changes might come from their testimony. Lawmakers have proposed a number of bills addressing online safety and child exploitation, but none have passed. However, there is growth support for measures that from algorithms and data collection and implement parental consent requirements.