Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized this Wednesday to a group of relatives who claim their children were victims of sexual violence because of the Internet, but denied that social media use harms the mental health of minors.

He said this during a hearing in the US Senate, at which CEOs of Snap, X, Discord and TikTok review the actions tech giants are taking to stop child sexual abuse on their platforms.

Zuckerberg defended Meta allegations of abuse, noting that there is no scientific evidence linking social media use to poor mental health.

“A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences, which assessed more than 300 studies, does not support the conclusion that social media causes changes in adolescent mental health“, said the Meta-Manager.

A statement that caused a stir among the public, which included relatives of victims of bullying on social networks, from whom Zuckerberg eventually publicly asked for forgiveness, at the request of congressmen.

“I’m sorry for everything you had to go through.”said the Meta leader, adding that no one should have been harmed in this “terrible” situation.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham accused Zuckerberg of have blood on your hands because social media is “a dangerous product that destroys lives and threatens democracy itself.”

In their testimony, the five witnesses acknowledged their responsibility to keep their communities safe, so they were open to working on the issue and working with lawmakers.

But when asked about their support for the bills being promoted, none of them answered clearly, so the congressmen punished them for their “grave silence.”

“If we wait for these guys to solve the problem, we’ll die waiting– Graham reproached.

On behalf of X, its chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, argued that “Less than 1% of X users are between the ages of 13 and 17.”, so he moved away from the problem under discussion.

For his part, TikTok CEO Shu Chu noted that “this year alone, he intends to invest more than $2 billion” in security and that he has 40,000 professionals in this field, including security specialists.

Discord CEO Jason Citron explained that they use artificial intelligence to detect criminals on their network, and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said that even if their app’s content is deleted by default, copies remain recorded in case “accountability” is required.

“If all this worked, we wouldn’t be here today.”concluded Democratic Senator Richard Durbin.

There are several child protection bills pending in Congress, such as the Stop CSAM Act, which aims to crack down on the spread of child sexual abuse material online, support victims, and make platforms more accountable.

EFE