There is no pastime more beloved by Congress than beating up on social media executives.<\/span> On Wednesday<\/span><\/a>, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee engaged in yet another round of fact-free histrionics as they thunderously denounced four tech CEOs\u2014Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, X’s Linda Yaccarino, Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel, and Discord’s Jason Citron\u2014for\u00ad a litany of allegedly unsafe business practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attending the committee meeting were the parents of several young people who tragically took their own lives after being scammed or bullied on social media; as such, the proceedings felt very much like a trial in which the CEOs\u2014Zuckerberg, in particular\u2014stood accused of literal child murder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the Senate’s anti-tech crusaders were present, including Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Josh Hawley (Mo.), and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.). Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D\u2013Mass.) wasn’t there, though she received several favorable shout-outs <\/span>from the Republicans<\/span><\/i>. Indeed, both sides of the political aisle were exceedingly pleased with themselves for acting in bipartisan fashion to wildly accuse four business leaders of complicity in despicable crimes against children.<\/span><\/p>\n

If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that Hawley prompted Zuckerberg to apologize to the families in the audience, and then faulted him for refusing to pay them damages from his personal fortune.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Have you compensated the victims?” Hawley demanded.<\/span><\/p>\n