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{"id":26008,"date":"2026-07-17T15:33:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/parent-advocates-urge-senate-panel-to-subpoena-zuckerberg-google-ceo\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:33:36","slug":"parent-advocates-urge-senate-panel-to-subpoena-zuckerberg-google-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/parent-advocates-urge-senate-panel-to-subpoena-zuckerberg-google-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Parent advocates urge Senate panel to subpoena Zuckerberg, Google CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A coalition of parents whose children died or experienced mental health difficulties linked to tech platforms is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to testify before the panel.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter sent Friday to Senate Judiciary Chair <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/51187\" data-person-id=\"51187\">Chuck Grassley<\/a> (R-Iowa) and ranking member <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/51180\" data-person-id=\"51180\">Dick Durbin<\/a> (D-Ill.), advocacy groups Parents RISE and ParentsTogether Action argued that only the companies\u2019 top executives can be held accountable for decisions they say contributed to children\u2019s harm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery time Mark Zuckerberg testifies in public, more parents understand what happened or what is happening with their own child,\u201d the groups wrote. \u201cParents like us are done being told to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The appeal comes after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/24\/white-house-helped-mark-zuckerberg-and-the-google-ceo-dodge-a-senate-grilling-00974497\" target=\"_blank\">the White House<\/a> intervened in a bid to spare some of the CEOs from testifying, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss private negotiations. Grassley agreed to allow lower-level executives from the tech companies to appear before the panel, and in turn, the administration is supporting a package of child online safety bills known as the James T. Woods Act, the people added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChairman Grassley remains committed to advancing lifesaving child safety legislation and holding Big Tech accountable,\u201d a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe top CEOs of each of these tech companies should be called to testify, just as they were when then-Chair Durbin held a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/01\/31\/senate-grills-zuckerberg-other-tech-ceos-on-kids-safety-failures-00138718\" target=\"_blank\">similar hearing in 2024<\/a>,\u201d a Durbin spokesperson told Blue Light News. \u201cSenator Durbin supports subpoenas for these tech CEOs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meta declined to comment, and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs long as the men who made the decisions that killed our children are allowed to hide behind their lower-ranking employees,\u201d the parents\u2019 groups wrote, \u201cthere will be no real accountability \u2014 and we will see no real justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The two groups will also lead a phone call drive today, demanding Grassley subpoena Zuckerberg and Pichai, according to Shelby Knox, ParentsTogether\u2019s online safety campaign director.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the parents of James Woods \u2014 a 17-year-old Instagram user who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/fbi-warning-financial-sextortion-minors-growing-threat-suicide\/\" target=\"_blank\">died by suicide<\/a> after being sexually extorted on the platform and after whom the package is named \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/08\/congress\/child-safety-advocates-blast-white-house-deal-that-let-tech-ceos-sidestep-hearing-00990128\" target=\"_blank\">condemned the White House intervention<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Grassley and Durbin have been working to advance the James T. Woods Act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/news\/news-releases\/grassley-durbin-advance-bipartisan-packages-in-national-defense-authorization-act-to-crack-down-on-crime-and-protect-kids-online\" target=\"_blank\">seeking to attach it<\/a> to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A coalition of parents whose children died or experienced mental health difficulties linked to tech platforms is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to testify before the panel. In a letter sent Friday to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}