Loss, pain, harm: Grieving parents set the tone at this week’s tech CEOs hearing. It could change things

Wednesday’s online youth safety hearing with some of the world’s leading social media CEOs was unlike the many that came before it in recent years. But it wasn’t because of anything the executives said.

Wednesday’s online youth safety hearing with some of the world’s leading social media CEOs was unlike the many that came before it in recent years. But it wasn’t because of anything the executives said. Instead, it was the families sitting behind them — many holding photos of children who had been harmed or died after engaging online — who set the tone for a hearing that was, after years of talk, focused on finally taking action to protect young social media users. The presence of parents in the hearing room served as a stark reminder of the reason for the event and prompted rare apologies from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. During the hearing, Zuckerberg and Spiegel, along with the CEOs of TikTok, Discord and X, also faced calls to meet with the families affected by their platforms. And Wednesday night, after the event, some parents said the apologies did not go far enough. “I feel it was very fake, it lacked any heart behind it,” Bridget Norring, a mother in the room whose son died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after ordering a pill off of Snapchat in 2020, told CNN of Spiegel’s apology. “I just feel like for them, our children are just casualties, pawns, in this game to make money.” By Friday, only X and Discord indicated plans to meet with families or parent advocacy groups in the wake of the hearing, although the promises were light on details. “Yes, we will be actively engaging with all Senators and will absolutely work to determine connection with families,” X business operations head Joe Benarroch said in an email. X CEO Linda Yaccarino thanked the “parents, families, and young people” who attended the hearing in a post on the platform. She also pledged to support several proposed bills mentioned at the hearing.