Senate committee issues subpoenas to tech giant CEOs

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Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., takes his seat for a markup business meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Associated Press/Photo by Alex Brandon

Senate committee issues subpoenas to tech giant CEOs

The Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas Monday to the CEOs of tech giants Discord, Snap, and X (formerly Twitter) after they repeatedly refused to testify before the committee. Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is also the chairman of the committee, said in a joint statement Monday that “in a remarkable departure from typical practice,” Discord and X refused to accept the subpoenas on behalf of the executives. That prompted U.S. Marshals to serve the documents personally. The Committee is currently in contact with the CEOs of Meta and TikTok, who are expected to testify voluntarily.

What will the Congressional hearing cover? The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet on Dec. 6 to cover online child sexual exploitation. The CEOs will have the chance to testify about what some lawmakers say is their organizations’ failure to protect children online.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD Magazine about how a new California law affects sex trafficking.