Sexual abuse, online harrasment, bullying, eating disorders, unrealistic beauty standards, low self-esteam, inadequate sleep, anxiety, depression and even suicides are some of the mental health issues teenagers are dealing with. Senate lawmakers questioned CEOs of leading social media companies about the safety of their platforms and why they are not taking enough steps regarding it.
The CEOs of leading social media companies had to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing titled, “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis”. They went before the committee to testify as parents and lawmakers grew concerned about the mental health of their children being exploited because of social media.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who owns Facebook and Instagram, was one of the CEOs who appeared to testify. He issued an apology to the parents who claimed that to the parents who claimed that Instagram led to their children’s suicides or exploitation. He said, “I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through. It’s terrible. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered," adding, "And this is why we invest so much and are going to continue doing industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer."
CEOs of other social media platforms like Snapchat, X, TikTok and Discord were also testified in the hearing.
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Zuckerberg’s apology came after Josh Hawley, one of the members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, pushed him to offer a direct apology to the affected parents.
Parents who lost their children through suicides and mental trauma held pictures and wore blue ribbons during the hearing.
Zuckerberg assured parents that Meta is dedicated to making investments and industry-leading efforts to prevent such incidents in future. However, Zuckerberg faced tough questions from the senators. Senators grilled the CEO of Meta, though, about topics including drug-related fatalities, nonconsensual sexual content, and alleged the intentional creation of "psychologically manipulative" features on Facebook and Instagram. Many states filed a complaint against Meta, alleging that the business purposefully designed addictive features and concealed internal data that could have harmed younger users.
Also read: How Mindless Scrolling Affects Your Mental Health and 5 Tips to Overcome It
Bottomline
Social media can impact teenagers not only teenagers but adults as well to a greater extent. Scrolling through social media and getting influenced by it can lead to anxiety, depression, fear of missing out on something and can lower self confidence as well. It is important to keep a check on the usage of social media to keep mental health problems at bay. If you are going through mental health problems, reach out to your friends, family or psychologists, therapists to seek help.