Four Republican US lawmakers requested on Tuesday that Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet’s Google flip over any research they’ve finished on how their companies have an effect on youngsters’s psychological well being.
The request follows a joint listening to final week of two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees at which the businesses’ chief executives mentioned their content material moderation practices within the wake of the siege on the Capitol in January.
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the committee’s rating Republican, had requested the CEOs on the listening to whether or not their corporations had carried out inside analysis regarding youngsters’s psychological well being.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg mentioned he believed the corporate had, whereas Twitter’s Jack Dorsey mentioned he didn’t imagine so. Google’s Sundar Pichai mentioned the corporate consulted with exterior consultants and invested “a lot of time and effort in these areas.”
In letters to the businesses on Tuesday, McMorris Rodgers requested for copies of any related analysis or inside communications in addition to info on any contractors and companions concerned. They additionally requested any analysis the businesses had finished about how opponents’ merchandise have an effect on psychological wellness of individuals beneath 18 years previous.
The requests additionally cowl Google’s YouTube Kids service and Facebook’s Instagram, which is creating a model for folks beneath 13 years previous.
The different lawmakers who signed the letter have been rating Republicans on varied subcommittees, together with Robert Latta, Gus Bilirakis and Morgan Griffith.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
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