{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/9/technology/video-blackburn-eviscerates-meta-for-suppressing-child-safety-research-following-whistleblower-allegations", "VIDEO: Blackburn Eviscerates Meta for Suppressing Child Safety Research Following Whistleblower Allegations", "2025-09-09", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Marsha Blackburn", "B001243", "www.blackburn.senate.gov", "blackburn", "https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/news/cc8c80c1-d564-4bbb-93a4-f1d772346ae0", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, led a hearing following new allegations from six whistleblowers that Meta buried child safety research. Two former Meta researchers testified at the hearing about the toxic culture at Meta. Watch the full hearing here.\n\nAhead of the hearing, Senator Blackburn led a press conference with Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and parents, Brian Montgomery and Maurine Molak, who lost their children following exposure to harms on social media. During the hearing and the press conference, Senator Blackburn renewed the call to pass her Kids Online Safety Act, which passed the Senate in a 91-3 vote last year to require Big Tech companies like Meta to make their platforms safer by design for children.\n\nClick here to download video of Senator Blackburn\u2019s opening remarks and here to watch the full hearing.\n\nClick here to download photos and here to watch Senator Blackburn\u2019s press conference.\n\nSUBCOMMITTEE HEARING OPENING REMARKS AS PREPARED\n\n\u201cGood afternoon and thank you all for being here for this important hearing. We are here today to hear from Dr. Jason Sattizahn and Ms. Cayce Savage, two brave whistleblowers who have come forward to detail shocking allegations about Meta\u2019s cover-up of deeply disturbing child safety research. They were hired to purportedly make the platform safer, but what they found was a company that knew their products were unsafe and just didn\u2019t care.\n\nNearly four years ago, I held my first hearing with a Meta whistleblower who detailed how Meta exploits our children online simply to maximize user engagement and boost their profits. Since then, we\u2019ve seen a national movement of parents, legislators, whistleblowers, and kids that have said enough is enough; our children are more precious than the interests of depraved Big Tech CEOs; and that Congress must pass the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act. After all these years, Meta continues to knowingly allow sexual exploitation and harms to children on their platforms. I am incredibly grateful that individuals are still willing to come forward and shine a light on Meta\u2019s disturbing, and willful, actions.\n\nMark Zuckerberg has promised that \u201cin the Metaverse, you\u2019ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine.\u201d And for once, Mr. Zuckerberg\u2019s statement rings true. That is, for pedophiles, groomers, and all kinds of disgusting bad actors. As these whistleblowers will explain, the \u201cMetaverse\u201d has become the Wild West for criminals who prey on children.\n\nAs our witnesses will tell us today, virtual reality can be incredibly dangerous for children\u2014specifically because of the immersive nature of the technology. Children have a much harder time processing the difference between violence and abuse in the physical and virtual spaces. In other\n\nwords, when their avatar on Meta\u2019s virtual reality platform is raped or harassed, children experience that trauma as if it is actually happening to them. Let\u2019s be clear: virtual reality is reality. These harms are real. And this abuse happens every single day on virtual reality platforms like Meta\u2019s.\n\nOne employee stated on an internal message board in 2017\u2014and I\u2019m quoting\u2014\u201cWe have a child problem and it\u2019s probably time to talk about it.\u201d But, years later, Meta\u2019s C-Suite has zero interest in these findings. According to these whistleblowers, Meta executives decided they didn\u2019t want to see research detailing how harmful their products are to children. So, they unleashed their attack dogs within Meta Legal on the research teams, intent on creating a rosy picture of their products. Meta Legal manipulated research methods and buried negative data. Meta instructed researchers to avoid asking teen survey participants questions which might lead them to discuss harms they\u2019ve experienced because of Meta\u2019s design. And when their suppression didn\u2019t work, they simply deleted the evidence.\n\nIn one user review, Meta\u2019s Horizon Worlds was dubbed \u201cthe pedophile kingdom.\u201d This makes clear what we have known for years: that Meta profits from the sexualization and abuse of children. If you need another example, look at the recent report that Meta\u2019s own internal guidelines allowed AI chatbots to engage in sensual conversations with children. Their refusal to protect children\u2014and to instead profit at the expense of kids\u2019 safety\u2014is heinous.\n\nAgain, I want to thank both of you for your willingness to come forward today. I know this was not an easy decision for either of you, but what you\u2019re doing brings us one step closer to holding these Big Tech platforms accountable. Parents across our nation thank you for standing up and speaking out.\n\nAnd to the parents here today \u2013 to Maurine, Brian, Mia, and Christine \u2013 who have lost their children to social media harms, thank you for being here. We\u2019re grateful for your passion to make sure that no parent ever has to go through the trauma you\u2019ve gone through. With your help, we\u2019ll get the Kids Online Safety Act to the President\u2019s desk.\u201d\n\nRELATED\n\nBlackburn, Blumenthal, Thune, and Schumer Introduce the Kids Online Safety Act\n\nVIDEO: Blackburn Speaks with Father Who Lost His Son After Instagram Sextortion Scheme\n\nBlackburn, Grassley, Hawley Demand Answers on Meta\u2019s Emotional Targeting of Children, Repeated Alleged Failures to Comply with Child Privacy Law\n\nICYMI in Reuters: Blackburn Shreds Meta After Bombshell Report Reveals Company\u2019s AI Rules Allowed Bots to Engage in \u2018Sensual\u2019 Chats with Kids\n\nBlackburn, Blumenthal Urge Meta to Shut Down Instagram Map Feature to Protect Kids from Pedophiles & Traffickers\n\nBlackburn, Blumenthal Demand Accountability from Meta Following Bombshell Report Detailing Latest Failures to Protect Minors from Harm", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/9/technology/video-blackburn-eviscerates-meta-for-suppressing-child-safety-research-following-whistleblower-allegations"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8919939864426851, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}