Live updates: CEOs from TikTok, X, Meta to talk online child safety at Senate hearing
Latest news and live updates on today’s Senate hearing on child online safety with 5 big tech CEOs as efforts to regulate social media continue ramping up nationwide.
Daysia Tolentino
The video platform is noticeably absent from today’s hearing, although it is a popular destination for kids online.
YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet (which also owns Google), previously came under fire after users found disturbing videos featuring children and comments from child predators under minors’ posts. Advertisers pulled out of the platform after they found their ads alongside inappropriate content. As a result, the company disabled comments on videos with kids and launched a “classifier” to monitor comments for predatory behavior in 2019.
YouTube hasn’t had any high-profile issues with child safety since they cracked down on these commenters. The company's dedicated family-friendly site YouTube Kids has been deemed "mostly safe" by children's media nonprofit Common Sense.
YouTube's policy prohibits content that could potentially endanger children, including videos that sexualize minors, encourage cyberbullying or promote dangerous activities. It also age-restricts videos that feature sexual themes, profanity or harmful acts that kids might imitate.
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