Ahead of Tomorrow’s Big Tech Hearing, Advocates and Experts Urge “Safety by Design; Privacy by Default”

“Listen to the young people harmed by these platforms — not the CEOs who want to shift blame”

30 January — Real Facebook Oversight Board issued the following statement:

Tomorrow, Big Tech CEOs will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on their failure to protect kids online. We know, from whistleblowers, lawsuits and research that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and the leaders of multiple sites knew their platforms were endangering young people, enabling harassment, abuse, trafficking, addiction, bullying and more. They knew it, they still know it, and have chosen profit over lives and safety.

Now they want to shift the burden to parents, obfuscate and try to hold others accountable.

We demand action from elected officials, regulators and elected officials to ensure that these platforms prioritize safety by design and privacy by default. We join the call for transparency in how platforms are using our personal information. And we stand with the young activists in DC on Wednesday, organized by groups like Design it for Us and Accountable Tech, who are demanding agency over their own online environments.

The system has been blinking red for years; Zuckerberg, Mosseri and their counterparts have just flipped off the red light and gone back to reaping record profits. Tomorrow we urge leaders to listen to the young people harmed by these platforms — not the CEOs who want to shift blame and skirt accountability.

Real Facebook Oversight Board members are available for interviews. Statements do not reflect the individual positions of all Real Facebook Oversight Board Members. Contact us at media@the-citizens.com. The Real Facebook Oversight Board is an emergency response to the ongoing harms on Facebook’s platforms from leading global scholars, experts and advocates