How Mark Zuckerberg is flipping the script on kids’ safety online

To protect kids online, Mark Zuckerberg says Congress should focus on Apple and Google — not Facebook and Instagram. The Meta CEO, owner of the two social media sites, is flooding Washington with ads aimed at convincing lawmakers to require his rivals’ app stores to verify shoppers’ ages and require parental consent for kids to download social media apps. In 2024, Zuckerberg was able to convince House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to shelve a bill that would have required Facebook and Instagram to make design changes to protect kids from bullying, sexual exploitation and other online ills. If he succeeds now in convincing Republicans to target Apple and Google instead it will show how much headway he has made with the GOP majority in Congress. There is already evidence Zuckerberg is swaying the people who matter.