In January, the CEOs of X, TikTok, Meta, Snap and Discord testified before congressional committees about child exploitation on their platforms. “Mr. Zuckerberg, you and our previous companies, I know you didn’t mean it, but you have blood on your hands,” Senator Lindsey Graham said at the time.
While Graham and others have raised confrontational questions about how many underage users are on their platforms and what protections are in place, Zuckerberg and other executives have not taken issue with some managing social media accounts on behalf of young children. parents’ worrying practices. A New York Times An investigation a month after the hearing found that some parents, mostly girls, had amassed tens of thousands of followers for their children by posting suggestive images that could attract predators.
Now Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan is holding tech companies accountable for thousands of accounts that put girls at risk of exploitation on their platforms through the actions of adult account holders.
“These companies must be held accountable for how they allow young women and girls to be exploited on their platforms and what they will do about it,” Hassan, the senator who represents New Hampshire, told Wired. “Young women should be able to Express yourself online in a safe environment that does not facilitate the monetization of potentially exploitative content.”
this era The investigation found that parents can easily bypass age restrictions on social platforms that prevent children under 13 from having accounts. Some parents use accounts they set up for their children to essentially make money off their daughters by using them as influencers, getting discounts and sponsorship deals, or earning advertising revenue.
More sinisterly, some of these accounts received money from people seeking sexual or suggestive material about young girls, some of whom were convicted sex offenders. Some of these followers are willing to pay for additional photos shared on the girl’s social media accounts, or for private chats or used clothes. era Reporters examined approximately 5,000 accounts of young girls managed by their parents.
Although era Some parents were found to also be running TikTok accounts, a phenomenon most prevalent on Meta’s Instagram. (X is not mentioned era Investigations revealed that the company claimed that its underage user base comprised less than 1% of its total users. Wired has previously reported that the platform may not have the age verification system needed to accurately make such claims. )
“After disturbing revelations about predators interacting with minors’ posts and even buying clothes they wore, it’s clear social media companies are failing to keep our children safe,” said Senator Hassan.
Meta, TikTok and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
in a statement era Regarding its previous reports, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company blocks “accounts that exhibit potentially suspicious behavior from using our monetization tools, and we plan to restrict such accounts from accessing subscription content,” but Parents are ultimately responsible for these accounts.
In letters to TikTok, What measures. The company has taken proactive steps to detect such accounts.
The platforms have until April 8 to respond.