Sen. Ted Cruz confronted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over Instagram’s warning signs on potential child sexual abuse material (CSAM) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Cruz questioned the decision to display warnings and provide the option to view potentially harmful content, criticizing the approach.
He highlighted a letter sent to Zuckerberg in June 2023, expressing concerns about the platform’s handling of CSAM.
.@sentedcruz grills Mark Zuckerberg on his products’ complicity in child sexual exploitation.
“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?” pic.twitter.com/xSb3hEeU53
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) January 31, 2024
Sen. Ted Cruz warned, “These results may contain images of child sexual abuse.”
“Mr Zuckerberg, what the hell were you thinking?” asked Cruz.
Zuckerberg replied, “Alright, senator, 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 toward something that could be helpful for getting them to get help.”
Zuckerberg committed to personally looking into the issue in response to Cruz’s request for more information.
“Senator, I’ll personally look into it,” declared Zuckerberg.
