Washington Examiner commentary writer Tiana Lowe Doescher expressed some criticism for Congress‘s handling of its hearing on Big Tech, arguing that the hearings are tackling multiple issues at once.
Doescher explained that Wednesday’s Congressional hearing was “conflating” three different issues at the same time, including whether social media platforms are responsible for what is posted on their sites and if the platforms contribute to addiction. The third issue the hearing was looking into, however, was whether TikTok was sharing Chinese Communist propaganda, which Doescher said was “completely different” from the previous issues.
“I don’t think that the FCC would allow the Soviet Union to own a television channel during the Cold War,” Doescher said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria. “And so I think that the third point is so salient and so bipartisan that to try and conflate all three issues in the hearing, which is what they were doing. It’s why when you have Democrats and Republicans equally angry at the same target, it’s usually not necessarily for the most cogent and ideologically pure purpose.”
Doescher also thought it was good for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologize to parents in the hearing whose children died by suicide after facing bullying or sexual exploitation on social media. However, she added that Zuckerberg’s apology was not the same as asking Facebook, which is owned by Meta, to prevent children from spending excessive time on the platform, saying that doing so is not the platform’s job.
Mark Tepper, the CEO of Strategic Wealth Partners, shared a similar sentiment with Doescher, noting that while he hates TikTok, his teenage daughters love the platform and use it regularly. As a parent, though, he has the ability to step in and prevent his daughter from using TikTok, or their phones in general, at any time.
CLICK EHRE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“So, have to remember parenting is still important; we cannot just blame it all on Zuck,” Tepper said.
The hearing on Wednesday was attended by Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, and Discord CEO Jason Citron, all of whom were asked about their companies’ policies regarding teenagers and sexual content.
