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    Senate panel subpoenas CEOs of Discord, Snap and X to testify about children’s safety online

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments802 Views
    Elon Musk, left, speaks with Linda Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships for NBC, at the POSSIBLE marketing conference, April 18, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla. A Senate committee has issued bipartisan subpoenas to the CEOs of Discord, Snap and X, demanding that the heads of the three companies testify at a December hearing on protecting children online. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced Monday, Nov. 20, that they had issued the subpoenas to Discord CEO Jason Citron, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

    By Mary Clare Jalonick & Barbara Ortutay

    WASHINGTON (AP) --

    A Senate committee has issued bipartisan subpoenas to the CEOs of Discord, Snap and X, demanding that the heads of the three companies testify at a December hearing on protecting children online.

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the panel, announced Monday that they had issued the subpoenas to Discord CEO Jason Citron, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, "after repeated refusals to appear" during weeks of negotiations.

    "Big Tech's failure to police itself at the expense of our kids cannot go unanswered," the two senators said in a statement about the Dec. 6 hearing, which will focus on child sexual exploitation online.

    The committee said that "in a remarkable departure from typical practice," Discord and X refused to accept service of the subpoenas and the panel was forced to enlist the U.S. Marshals Service to personally subpoena the CEOs.

    In response to the subpoenas, all three companies said that they will work with the committee. But none committed to the Dec. 6 hearing.

    "Snap's CEO has already agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our team is coordinating with committee staff on potential dates," Snap said in a statement.

    Discord said that "keeping our users safe, especially young people, is central to everything we do at Discord. We have been actively engaging with the committee on how we can best contribute to this important industry discussion.""

    Wifredo Fernandez, the head of U.S. and Canada government affairs at X, said in a statement that the company has been working "in good faith" to participate because safety is the company's top priority. "Today we are communicating our updated availability to participate in a hearing on this important issue," Fernandez said.

    Durbin and Graham said the committee remains in discussions with both Meta and TikTok and expects their CEOs, Mark Zuckerberg and Shou Zi Chew, to testify voluntarily.

    Social media companies have faced criticism from lawmakers, regulators and the public for harms their platforms cause to children and teenagers. Most recently, Meta was sued by 41 states and Washington, D.C. for contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict teenagers to the platforms.

    Ortutay reported from San Francisco.

    Tags:children's safety onlineDiscordSnapU.S. SenateX



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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