Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord confront Congress eager for tighter social media regulation

“We could regulate you out of business if we wanted to,” a frustrated Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. told Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, X CEO Linda Yaccarino and other top social media company leaders Wednesday during a Senate hearing.

Tillis and other lawmakers accused the tech executives of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation on their respective social media platforms. The hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was tense and frequently emotional, held in a committee room filled to capacity with guests, many of them the parents of children targeted by online predators.

In one memorable exchange, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., compelled Zuckerberg to stand up and apologize directly to parents who believed that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram apps had contributed to the death of their children.

“No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered,” Zuckerberg told the parents.

Yet overall, the hearing featured more raw emotion than it did imminent regulation. This reality was visible in the fact that both Meta and Snap shares were relatively flat in after-hours trading on Wednesday, at $391 and $15.94, respectively.

It appears Wall Street doesn’t expect the tech firms to take any significant financial hits to their businesses from Congress, at least not yet.

To be sure, both Republican and Democratic senators were united in their conviction that social media firms are failing the American public and directly harming young people.

Still, it takes time for bills to get passed, and all of these social media firms are still getting slammed for child-safety related issues, which could keep the topic fresh in the minds of politicians.

Child-safety and…