U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a new letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today, calling on the billionaire to establish a compensation fund for victims of online exploitation across Meta’s platforms. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, Senator Hawley pressed Zuckerberg about child exploitation on his social media platforms, forcing the Big Tech CEO to apologize his lack of action to protect children online.
“According to your company’s own internal metrics, within a 7-day window, 24% of Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15 receive unwanted sexual advances, 37% encounter nudity, and 17% encounter content on self-harm,” wrote Senator Hawley. “You were made aware of these extraordinary statistics directly by your employees and did not respond—nor do you admit to firing anyone.”
He continued, “You amassed your fortune from Facebook’s growth; but while your platform grew, so did its role in enabling child exploitation. Now you must make financial decisions with moral purpose. With just a 10 percent donation of your net worth to a victim’s compensation fund, you can provide thousands of victimized children with counseling services, you can reimburse burial services for families who lost a loved one, and you can provide resources to all victims to help get their dignity back. Your company, Meta, should also contribute from its vast revenues to help compensate these victims.”
Read the full letter here or below.
February 1, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg
Chief Executive Officer
Meta Platforms, Inc.
1 Hacker Way
Menlo Park, California 94025
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:
Yesterday, you publicly apologized to the families of children exploited by your platforms. That apology was long overdue. Now you can show the world that you were sincere. I urge you to immediately create a fund endowed by your own personal wealth for the purpose of compensating those who have been victimized by your platforms. These families can never be made whole—but they can get some measure of justice and accountability from you.
Every day, Meta’s products harm children and families. This has been made perfectly clear by investigations, whistleblower disclosures, and by the families personally present to watch you testify under oath. According to your company’s own internal metrics, within a 7-day window, 24% of Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15 receive unwanted sexual advances, 37% encounter nudity, and 17% encounter content on self-harm. You were made aware of these extraordinary statistics directly by your employees and did not respond—nor do you admit to firing anyone. This is a stunning abdication of responsibility to the children who use your products.
But it’s not too late for you to work to provide justice. Your personal wealth—estimated at an enormous $140 billion—can go a long way to help ease the suffering. You amassed your fortune from Facebook’s growth; but while your platform grew, so did its role in enabling child exploitation. Now you must make financial decisions with moral purpose. With just a 10 percent donation of your net worth to a victim’s compensation fund, you can provide thousands of victimized children with counseling services, you can reimburse burial services for families who lost a loved one, and you can provide resources to all victims to help get their dignity back. Your company, Meta, should also contribute from its vast revenues to help compensate these victims.
You have the ability to transform not only your platform, but also the lives of every child your products have harmed over the last decade. I urge you to seize this chance to do it.
Sincerely,
Josh Hawley
United States Senator