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Floor Speech

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Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, last week, the executives of some of the largest tech companies in the United States came before the U.S. Senate. And the world got to see, with all too vivid detail, just what these companies and these executives are doing to our children. And I say ``children'' advisedly. I am talking about 12- and 13- and 14- and 15-year-old kids on these platforms--on Facebook, on Instagram, on SNAP--who are exposed to the most outrageous, unbelievable, grotesque, and vivid child sex abuse material known to mankind: images of exploitation, solicitations by pedophiles.

It is unbelievable, indescribable material. And these platforms are absolutely awash with it. And we saw it last week. We heard the testimony. It was so bad that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, actually felt forced to apologize to the parents there in the room and the parents across this country who have lost their children to suicide, whose children have suffered extraordinary harm because of the sex abuse material, the exploitative content that is all over Meta, that is all over these platforms.

And oh, by the way, they are making an astounding profit. These companies are the most profitable companies in the world. They are the biggest companies in the history of the world. Facebook's share prices actually went up the day after Zuckerberg's testimony. It is unbelievable. Here they are making money hand over fist on destroying America's children.

The numbers tell the tale. Think of this: In 2014, there were 1.1 million reports of child sex abuse material online that year. That in itself is an incredible number--a million reports--but look at this: By 2022, that number had risen to 32 million reports of child sex abuse material--child porn, child exploitation, solicitations. In just in 1 year, there were 32 million reports. That is just the images that are actually being reported. Those are just the ones we know about. We know from the testimony of the tech executives, we know from the reporting of news agencies, we know from the investigations that have been done, we know from the parents, that these platforms are absolutely littered with, awash with, overrun with this material, and because of that, children are literally dying.

Is it any coincidence that since the introduction of the smartphone and the ubiquity of these platforms in the hands of young people, that suicide rates and mental health crises have skyrocketed in this country?

Oh, the platforms know, by the way. They absolutely know. A whistleblower testified before the U.S. Senate committee earlier this past year. He worked as a senior executive at Meta--that is Facebook. He knows Mark Zuckerberg personally. He was hired by Zuckerberg personally. He reported in part to Zuckerberg. Here is the thing, though: He had a teenage daughter. Yes, he had a teenage daughter who created an Instagram account, went online, and then told her father, this executive: Dad, you won't believe what I am seeing online. You won't believe what is happening to me online.

So he looked into it, as any father would, and then he began to compile the data that he could find based on Instagram's own internal metrics, based on their user data and information. Here is a piece, just a piece, of what he found: that 37 percent of Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15--let me say that again--37 percent of Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15 had experienced unwanted nudity on the platform in the past 7 days.

Let me just spell this out for you. It is largely, overwhelmingly young, teenage girls, young women, who are bombarded with--bombarded with--the most unbelievable pictures, content, conduct as soon as they get onto these platforms.

Twenty-four percent of Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15 had received unwanted sexual advances in just the last 7 days, had been propositioned in 7 days.

Seventeen percent of Instagram users in that same age range--young teenagers--had encountered self-harm content--how to commit suicide-- within the last 7 days.

These are Instagram's own numbers. These were given to us by the whistleblower who, as an executive at Instagram, told Mark Zuckerberg about it. What did Mr. Zuckerberg do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Consider another case. Here is a picture of a young girl, 13 years old, named Issa. Issa doesn't actually exist. The New Mexico attorney general has launched an investigation into Meta--that is Facebook and Instagram--and their investigators created this profile.

As you can see from the picture, she looks incredibly young. The profile picture information lists her as 13 years old. What happens as soon as she gets on the Meta platforms? As soon as she gets on the Meta platforms--this is all in court documents, by the way. Read it for yourself. It is horrifying. What happened was she was instantly added to a chat room with known pedophiles. What happened was her account was instantly bombarded with sexual material from older men. What happened was she was instantly sent multiple images of child sex abuse material over and over and over and over.

Oh, and the tech executives--they know all about it, and they are not doing a thing about it. Why? Because they are not accountable.

Here is the bottom line: This is the only industry in the country that can make a product that will literally kill you, and if it does, you can't do anything about it. If it kills your child, you can't do anything about it. If it harms you, you can't do anything about it. Think about this for a second. In this country, if a Coca-Cola manufacturer makes a bottle that explodes in your hands, you can sue them. If the drug company makes drugs that are full of adulterated products that cause harms that are not disclosed that kill people, you can sue them. If an automobile company makes cars that explode, you can sue them. Not these companies. No, not these companies. These companies have a special immunity from suit. How do they get that? Why, it was given to them. By whom? By this body. This body, almost 30 years ago, gave these powerful corporations total blanket immunity. They cannot be held responsible. They make products that kill; they cannot be held responsible.

That is why we are here today. The Senate Judiciary Committee has heard testimony over and over again. We have written bills. We marked them up.

The bill that I want the Senate to address today is one that has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee--get this--unanimously. Unanimously. Every Democrat. Every Republican. What does it do? Simple: It allows victims to have their day in court. It gives victims of these tech platforms the same right that victims of some car company or drug manufacturer or other product maker would have: the right to get into court; the basic American right to be heard; the right to hold accountable the most powerful corporations in the history of this Nation. That is what this bill does. I am proud to cosponsor it. I am proud that it received unanimous support in the committee.

Mr. President, I will just say this: We have had hearings and hearings and hearings. We have had talks until there is no more talk to be done. It is time for Congress to act.

Mr. Zuckerberg's apology is nice, but that is not going to help the victims of child sex abuse. What will help the victims of child sex abuse is the right to hold these companies accountable.

It is time for Congress to act because, let's be honest, Congress helped create the problem. Do you want to know why there is sex abuse content overwhelming the internet? Because Congress enabled it. Congress did. Congress did. And the refusal now to allow victims to have their basic rights in court is allowing that child sex exploitation to continue and continue and continue. It is time to break the cycle.

After Zuckerberg and the others came before the committee, after they apologized, I said now it is time for Congress to act. Let's take the work we have done, and let's put it on the floor. Let's act. Let's see where we are. Let's do something for victims. Let's right the wrongs that this body has helped create, and let's give victims the right to be heard.

69, S. 1199; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, there you have it. There are the Big Tech talking points. The problem is that they are entirely false. I have the bill text in front of me--the bill text that, again, passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee--that explicitly exempts encryption technology: page 184, lines 15 and following; page 185, lines 1 through 18. You can read it for yourself--explicitly exempts. That is not true at all. It is flatly false.

I have been on this floor over and over and over again on this issue, and every time, we are told: Not today. Not this. A little more of that. Maybe if it were more bipartisan.

This has unanimous support from the Judiciary Committee. Unanimous. Every Republican. Every Democrat.

And we all know the truth here: that until victims can get into court and have the rights and dignity of every other American challenging any other company, this will not change.

Congress created this problem. Congress created it by giving the most powerful companies in the world a sweetheart deal that they still have to this day.

It is an easy choice: Are you with the corporations or are you with the American people? Are you with the big companies or are you with the child victims? That is the choice.

I would just say to those who continue to support 230 with no exceptions, no exemptions, no reform, no recognition of the incredible danger it has unleashed for children, that they are on an island.

This state of affairs cannot continue. It cannot continue to be that if Big Tech sells products that kill kids, they cannot be held responsible.

It cannot continue to be that only these companies, the most powerful companies in the world, get a pass that nobody else gets, because nobody should get it.

I am committed to coming to this floor and forcing votes as long as it takes--as long as it takes--until we get justice for victims, until they are heard, and until these companies are finally held accountable.

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