Durbin Delivers Opening Statement In Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing With META Whistleblower
Durbin: “Meta chooses to put human rights concerns aside if it means access to more users, more growth, and more dollars”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism hearing entitled “A Time for Truth: Oversight of Meta’s Foreign Relations and Representations to the United States Congress.” Today’s hearing includes testimony from one witness—Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former Director of Global Public Policy.
The hearing will highlight Wynn-Williams’s memoir documenting her tenure at Facebook (now known as Meta) from 2011 to 2017. In her memoir, Ms. Wynn-Williams highlighted Facebook’s efforts to access the Chinese market, as well as its roles in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and the 2016 presidential election and its targeting of vulnerable teens to increase their engagement with the platform and advertisers.
Key Durbin Quotes:
“Meta chooses to target vulnerable teenagers to drive engagement and increase ad spending, knowing the risks it poses to teen mental health. Meta chooses to feed its users inflammatory content to drive engagement and increase ad spending, knowing the harm it can cause. Meta chooses to put human rights concerns aside if it means access to more users, more growth, and more dollars.”
“During the timeframe that Ms. Wynn-Williams documents in her book, I was pressing Facebook on its potential cooperation with the Chinese government. I was Chair of the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee, working with another staunch conservative—the late Senator Tom Coburn. We held hearings on the human rights implications of Big Tech operating in countries with repressive governments and sent interrogatories to Facebook about the issue. The company flatly declined to appear, claiming they had nothing to say about the issue.”
“In one chapter, Ms. Wynn-Williams describes a board meeting where the company discussed ways to head off regulation and change the narrative surrounding Facebook. She writes that the board, ‘gets into a conversation about what other companies or industries have navigated similar challenges, where they have to change a narrative that says that they’re a danger to society, extracting large profits, pushing all the negative externalities onto society and not giving back.’ Guess what model they chose? Big Tobacco. Like Big Tobacco, Big Tech tells us they can be trusted. And like Big Tobacco, they fight to prevent any regulation that might make them pay for the costs their products impose on society.”
“We have seen it time and time again in Congress. Any effort to regulate Big Tech is met with millions of dollars in ad campaigns, lobbying, and other opposition. But Congress has fought this battle before. And we’ve won. Almost 40 years ago, as a member of the House of Representatives, I introduced legislation to ban smoking on airplanes. The tobacco industry fought it tooth and nail. Once that smoking ban [on airplanes] went into effect, it wasn’t long before smoking was banned in restaurants and public spaces. That one little law finally turned the tide against smoking in this country. And it ultimately saved millions of lives.”
“Thanks to people like Ms. Wynn-Williams, I believe we’re at a similar tipping point with Big Tech. The word is out. The shine has worn off. We can all see the harm Big Tech has caused, from enabling the spread of CSAM and harming teen mental health to facilitating repression in places like China and Myanmar.”
“As Ms. Wynn-Williams makes clear in her book, companies like Meta won’t do the right thing unless they are compelled to do it. That’s why I will also join with Chairman Hawley, Senator Graham, and others to introduce a bill to sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. For nearly 30 years, Section 230 has shielded Big Tech from liability for the harms they cause.”
“Only by removing that liability shield will Big Tech finally have to take the steps companies in all other industries have to take to protect their customers. Unless and until Congress imposes accountability on these companies, nothing will change, and children and society will continue to pay the price. I hope this hearing—and Ms. Wynn-Williams’s testimony—can once again shine a spotlight on the need to regulate Big Tech and build momentum towards that cause.”
Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s opening statement is available here for TV Stations.
Durbin has used his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee to prioritize child safety online through hearings, legislation, and oversight efforts. On January 31, 2024, while Durbin was serving as Chair, the Committee held a hearing featuring testimony from the CEOs of social media companies Discord, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and X (formerly known as Twitter). This hearing highlighted the ongoing risk to children and the immediate need for Congress to act on the bipartisan bills reported by the Committee.
Last Congress, the Committee reported out Durbin and Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) STOP CSAM Act. The bipartisan legislation would crack down on the proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online by allowing victims to sue companies that host this material, among other things. Senators plan to reintroduce it soon.
In addition, Durbin’s bipartisan Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024 (DEFIANCE Act) passed the Senate in July 2024. The legislation would hold accountable those responsible for the proliferation of nonconsensual, sexually-explicit “deepfake” images and videos. The volume of “deepfake” content available online is increasing exponentially as the technology used to create it has become more accessible to the public. The overwhelming majority of this material is sexually explicit and is produced without the consent of the person depicted.
This Congress, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “Children’s Safety in the Digital Era: Strengthening Protections and Addressing Legal Gaps.” Durbin’s opening statement from that hearing is available here, and his questions for the witnesses are available here.
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