Senators Durbin and Graham declared on Monday that they have served subpoenas to the top executives of X, Snap, and Discord in order to compel them to appear at a hearing about online child sexual exploitation. After several weeks of negotiations in which the CEOs allegedly declined the invitation to testify, they were ultimately given subpoenas. Nevertheless, Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel has given his consent to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an email statement from a Snap representative.
Lawmakers said Monday that they have issued subpoenas to the CEOs of X, Snap and Discord to compel the executives to testify in a hearing regarding online child sexual exploitation. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced the subpoenas after "repeated refusals to appear during several weeks of negotiations.""Since the beginning of this Congress, our Committee has been working on a key bipartisan issue: protecting children from the dangers of the online world," the senators wrote in a joint statement. "It's a primary concern for parents, and Big Tech's failure to take responsibility for the safety of kids cannot go unanswered."The senators said the Senate Judiciary Committee had to resort to the help of the U.S. Marshals Service to personally serve the subpoenas to Discord and X, which they said was "a remarkable departure from typical practice.""At our February hearing on protecting children's safety online, we promised Big Tech that they'd have their shot to explain their flaws in this regard," Durbin and Graham wrote. "Now's that opportunity. Hearing from the CEOs of some of the world's biggest social media companies will help inform the Committee's efforts to address the issue of online child sexual exploitation."Wifredo Fernandez, the head of U.S. and Canada government affairs at X, formerly known as Twitter, shared that the company has "been working in good faith to participate in the Judiciary Committee's hearing on child protection online as safety is of utmost importance to us at X.""Today we have expressed our updated willingness to take part in a hearing on this crucial topic," Fernandez said.Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has agreed to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a company spokesperson said in an email."Our team is working with Committee staff to determine potential dates," the Snap spokesperson said. "We appreciate the chance to appear before the Committee to discuss this important issue."A Discord spokesperson said that, "Keeping our users safe, particularly young people, is crucial to everything we do at Discord.""We have been actively participating with the Committee on how we can best contribute to this essential industry dialogue," the Discord spokesperson said. "We welcome the chance to work together as an industry and with the Committee."The senators said they have also been communicating with Meta and TikTok. They said they anticipate Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok's Shou Zi Chew to testify voluntarily in the early months of the New Year, a spokesperson said.A TikTok spokesperson said that "discussions with the Committee are ongoing." The hearing on child safety will take place on Dec. 6.WATCH: CNBC's full interview with X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino
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