WASHINGTON — If the titans of Silicon Valley have blood on their hands — as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday — then how much blood is on federal lawmakers’ hands for congressional inaction on measures to protect the nation’s children online?
Raw Story posed that question to 15 members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as they exited their high profile hearing with the heads of TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, X (formerly Twitter) and Meta where senators, like Graham, the committee’s top Republican, blamed the CEOs for the issue Congress has yet to address.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,” Graham said as the room erupted with applause.
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Graham's argument: Social media companies have failed to adequately combat online sex predators, bullies and harassers, as well as the proliferation of content that glorifies violence, exacerbates eating disorders and elevates unrealistic beauty standards."
Raw Story caught up with Graham in the hall outside the hearing, and offered his accusation back to him as a question.
“If there’s blood on their hands,” we inquired, “how much blood is on Congress’ hands for inaction?”
“It's fair to say that we need to do better. Yes, absolutely. I think you can say it eventually becomes our problem,” Graham told Raw Story.
Graham says the solution is easy: Pass the legislation he wrote with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to set up a new regulatory commission overseeing Big Tech.
“It’s very simple: Let them be sued,” Graham said. “Pass the bills. Pass a regulatory commission.”
It’s not that easy though, or so it seems from the deafening sound – and empty feeling – of congressional inaction for years on end.
In 2021, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen warned Congress “lives were in danger,” while also divulging thousands of pages of internal documents to back up her dire warnings.
Last year, Haugen’s testimony was supported by a second Meta whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, who testified that he warned Zuckerberg and other executives – “they knew and they were not acting on it” – about the pitfalls of the platform to teens and children to no avail.
Facebook has since changed its corporate name to Meta.
Congress, however, has taken no significant action.
‘For good or for evil’
In his opening remarks Wednesday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) touted five measures that have passed out of his committee aimed at protecting kids online.
They include slapping an up to $850,000 fine on tech companies that fail to report child sexual abuse content and giving the Department of Justice enhanced prosecutorial tools to go after those who spread child porn online.
But Durbin didn’t mention that the measures have languished, never coming before the entire Senate for a vote.
Blood on Congress’ hands?
U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) (L) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speak to members of the press during a news briefing after a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“We've tackled this markup a year ago, so this hearing is a follow-up for that,” Durbin – the whip or number two most powerful Democrat in the Senate – told Raw Story.
“But it’s never seen the light of day on the floor?” Raw Story pressed.
“Not yet,” Durbin said.
So, when will it?
Crickets from Durbin.
There will be blood
Many senators on the Judiciary Committee disagreed with Graham’s characterization — at least when the charge of “blood on your hands” was leveled at Congress.
“I don’t necessarily think of it, or express it, in that way,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) told Raw Story. “But we all have responsibility, and to the extent we can change the laws that will provide safety for our children, then that’s what we should do.”
It wasn’t just Democrats — who are in the majority and thus control votes on the Senate floor — who took umbrage with the characterization and question of Congress having blood on its hands.
“I don’t think that’s helpful,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Raw Story. “As you know, social media can be used for good or for evil, and that’s a huge challenge.”
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One member of Graham’s party asked not to be named so he could candidly discuss his colleague.
“It’s very productive for getting attention, but I don't like it,” the senior Republican senator on the Judiciary Committee told Raw Story. “I certainly don't buy the idea that blood is on our hands for not prohibiting something, particularly something that does have legitimate uses.”
One member of the committee, known for his pithy one liners, seemed to lose the use of his tongue, if momentarily.
“I don’t have anything for you on that,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Raw Story before the senator answered a question from a television crew.
Defensiveness aside, many members of the Judiciary Committee admitted Congress’ culpability.
“We’ve got some responsibility,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) told Raw Story.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) talks to Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) during a news conference following the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on November 07, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Blood on Congress’ hands?
“That's a great question,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “We ought to do something … We need to vote.”
Hawley — who’s usually anti-regulation — has been one of the Senate’s most vocal advocates for policing Silicon Valley firms, especially when it comes to children who he’s proposed not be allowed on social media until they hit 16 years old.
Being pro-business, to Hawley, does not mean letting tech titans pave their own digital superhighways.
“Their view is, they’re for regulation, if they can write the regulation,” Hawley said. “I've just become — after working on this now for five years — I've become convinced that the best way to drive change is to allow people to get into a courtroom. That’s the key thing. It's what they hate. That's what they want the least. They would rather a new agency, than have the courtroom doors opened up to private citizens.”
Hawley’s been lonely for much of those five years, but these days — after two Meta whistleblowers in three years have captured Congress’ attention — other Republicans agree Congress is complicit in hurting children and has therefore stained its hands.
“I think through inaction, it’s a shared responsibility,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Raw Story.
Time to un-friend?
While Big Tech has dropped tens of millions of dollars on lobbying efforts to defeat proposed regulations, Tillis is not alone in arguing that the companies need to change their tune before Congress is forced to change it for them.
“The industry needs to stop looking at safety as a competitive advantage and come up with a collaboration that they all use,” Tillis said. “I think the industry needs to realize you, you need to compete on features, you should all be looking for the same norm in terms of community safety.”
Blood on Congress’ hands? Some Republicans say they’re in the minority so don’t look at them.
“At the end of the day, Chuck Schumer controls what goes to the floor, and at least so far, he has not been willing to move this legislation. It should move,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Raw Story.
An aide holds up a poster as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Jan. 31, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Schumer’s office didn’t reply to a request for comment on if — or when — measures aimed at protecting children’s privacy online may hit the Senate floor this year. But his rank-and-file believe this – just as last year was and the year before that – is the year.
“Leader Schumer has committed that he will work with us in bringing this bill and others to the floor,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told Raw Story. “Hopefully as soon as possible but before the election.”
As for whether Congress is covered in the same blood in which Silicon Valley is now — according to Graham — covered?
“Congress has a responsibility to act, and it must act,” Blumenthal said. “I’m not talking about blood on people’s hands, I'm talking about a basic responsibility.”