So the Senate Skewered Facebook. Now What?

After the Senate’s session with Facebook global head of safety Antigone Davis on September 30, close observers think bipartisan outrage may finally be strong enough for Congress to crack down on Facebook and its peers. “Facebook has given lawmakers and regulators an invaluable political opening to begin restructuring how it can do business, in terms of research, advertising and data use,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy. It may have seemed that other social media apps like TikTok, Snap and Google-owned YouTube had managed to elude the congressional spotlight, despite having similar problems with underage users, manipulative algorithms and abusive or noxious content. But not for long: TikTok and others have been and will be called on to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee's consumer protection panel, according to Chair Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The identity of the Facebook whistleblower who turned over a trove of documents to Congress and The Wall Street Journal, revealing what the company knows about its effects on young users’ mental health, will be revealed any day now. Asked repeatedly whether the company will take action against the whistleblower or others who come forward, Davis said, “We’ve committed to not retaliating for this individual speaking to the Senate.”