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Senators from both parties levied criticism against Facebook at a consumer protection subcommittee hearing Thursday, questioning the companys global head of safety, Antigone Davis, about Instagrams effects on teenagers. Instagram is owned by Facebook.
The new scrutiny comes after months of bipartisan legislative talks to limit Big Tech and after Facebook spent $9.5 million on federal lobbying in the first half of 2021, the second most of all Big Tech companies. In 2020, Facebook spent more on lobbying than any Big Tech company, totaling $19.6 million. That year, Facebook ranked sixth in lobbying expenditures among all registered lobbying clients.
The hearing was set in motion after The Wall Street Journal published internal Facebook documents showing the social media giants research had identified harmful mental health effects of Instagram on teenagers.
Facebook announced Monday it would pause its work on creating a kids version of the photo sharing app, in light of the document leak. The company has largely skirted blame for the issue, arguing that it had made changes to limit harm and that many teen users reported a positive experience with the app.
The internal documents said that Instagram made body image issues worse for one in three teen girls. Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced those thoughts to Instagram, according to Facebooks research documents.
Consumer protection, product safety and data security subcommittee chair Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the subcommittee, said in a Thursday statement they would reintroduce the Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act, which would ban certain features such as follower and like counts on social media platforms for users under 16.
Online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have repeatedly prioritized profits over childrens safety, Blumenthal said in the statement. By cracking down on harmful content and manipulative marketing, this legislation will stop proliferating the bad practices of these tech giants.
Facebook reported lobbying on at least 36 bills this year, including the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act introduced by two members of the subcommittee, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and John Thune (R-S.D.).
Unlike some other Big Tech companies, Facebook has consistently increased its lobbying expenditures since 2016 when it spent $8.6 million. Google parent company Alphabet spent almost 31% less on lobbying between 2019 and 2020. Apple and Microsoft had also cut their lobbying expenditures in that time period. Apple spent $3.1 million in 2021 and Microsoft spent $5.1 million so far this year.
OpenSecrets reported in June that a network of conservative dark money organizations had been working with tech giants including Facebook to combat anti-trust legislation. Facebook disclosed collaborating with the National Taxpayers Union and gave the American Conservative Union at least $62,500 as a CPAC sponsor in 2017.
Facebooks PAC has given money to every senator on the subcommittee except Markey, totaling a combined $190,000 over all their careers, Forbes reported.
Facebook has given the most to Schatz, who has received $35,000, and Thune, who received $31,500 to his primary campaign account and his leadership PAC. Schatzs most recent contribution from the PAC, at $2,500, came on June 30.
The tech giants PAC reported spending $566,895 in the 2020 election cycle and $721,756 in the 2018 election cycle. Republicans received slightly more contributions from the PAC in both elections. Facebook has received increased scrutiny from Congress since 2016 after the company was criticized for the spread of disinformation on its platform.
During Thursdays hearing, Davis wouldnt commit to Facebook supporting the KIDS Act. Rather, he said the company would follow up at a later time.
Your company has had this legislation in your possession for months. And youre testifying here today before the committee that would have to pass this legislation, Markey said at the hearing. I just feel that delay and obfuscation is the legislative strategy of Facebook.
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