The Squiz

The CEOs of 5 of the world’s biggest social media companies were grilled by American politicians yesterday over claims their products harm young people. Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) and Shou Zi Chew (TikTok) voluntarily appeared, but Linda Yaccarino (X), Evan Spiegel (Snap/Mr Miranda Kerr), and Jason Citron (Discord – which is a gamers’ app) were forced to testify. And it was a full-on session with some of the family members heckling the executives as they faced outrage from the US Senate committee members. That included Marsha Blackburn (a Republican from Tennessee), who told Zuckerberg she found secret documents estimating the lifetime value of a teen user at US$270 “astounding”.

Will this change anything?

Good question… Zuckerberg said “sorry” while insisting his company invests “so much” to prevent suffering. Spiegel also apologised for failing to prevent the “tragedies” of children who died after buying drugs on Snapchat. But senators called on the companies to “compensate” families and expressed frustration that little has changed since the dawn of the internet, with the federal government’s failing to rein in social media, leaving individual states to pursue policies such as minimum age requirements. Some senators want to “open up the courthouse door”, arguing that families should be able to sue the social media companies – and maybe that would force change. Several platforms have recently introduced new safety features like hiding potentially harmful posts and tools to restrict usage, but experts say it’s not enough. 

Anything else happening online?

Erm, yeah… Universal Music Group (UMG) has pulled the plug on TikTok’s access to some of the world’s biggest artists – including Taylor Swift. The power play came after the Chinese-owned platform failed to reach a new licencing agreement with the record label, which said they used “bully” tactics and “intimidation” during negotiations. UMG is also ticked off that they offered royalty payments at “a fraction of the rate” of other social platforms and have done little to stop AI-generated music from ripping off big-name artists. And speaking of music… Spotify is also in the hot seat as its content filter has failed to remove songs with naughty lyrics, even when users block explicit content. It’s all happening…