[The Morning After]( It's Thursday, February 01, 2024. The CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X and TikTok testified at a high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child exploitation online. During the hearing, Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Jason Citron, Linda Yaccarino and Shou Chew spent nearly four hours being [grilled by lawmakers about their records on child safety](. Judiciary Committee Chair, Senator Dick Durbin, noted Discordâs Citron âonly accepted services of his subpoenaâ after US Marshals went to the companyâs headquarters. Compared to previous hearings with tech CEOs, it was a heavier setting. The room was filled with parents of children who had been victims of online exploitation. âDiscord has been used to groom, abduct and abuse children,â Durbin said. âMetaâs Instagram helped connect and promote a network of pedophiles. Snapchatâs disappearing messages have been co-opted by criminals who financially extort young victims. TikTok has become a, quote, platform of choice for predators to access, engage and groom children for abuse. And the prevalence of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) on X has grown as the company has gutted its trust and safety workforce.â Of course, it wouldnât be a US Senate hearing without politicians also embarrassing themselves: Senator John Kennedy asked Snapâs Evan Spiegel if he knew the meaning of âyada yada yadaâ (Spiegel claimed he was ânot familiarâ with the phrase). âCan we agree⦠what you do is what you believe and everything else is just cottage cheese,â Kennedy asked. (⦠What?) Xâs Yaccarino, who repeatedly claimed X was a âbrand new companyâ (and not Twitter with a poorly received rebrand), said the platform was considering adding parental controls. âBeing a 14-month-old company, we have reprioritized child protection and safety measures,â she said. âAnd we have just begun to talk about and discuss how we can enhance those with parental controls.â Twitter launched in 2006. â Mat Smith ââYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. [Subscribe right here!]( The biggest stories you might have missed [The best Super Bowl 2024 TV deals we could find]( [Yamahaâs new audio mixer for gamers has a simpler interface and cheaper price]( [TikTok is the fastest-growing social platform, but YouTube remains the most dominant]( [Appleâs Vision Pro will have Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel and other 365 apps at launch]( [eBay will pay $59 million to settle DOJ suit over pill press machine sales]( [Universal Music could pull Taylor Swift and Drake from TikTok]( The group said itâs a âbad deal that undervalues music.â
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Buda Mendes/TAS23 via Getty Images]( Universal Music Group is threatening to pull all of its music from TikTok today following a breakdown in negotiations over royalties. The company wrote in an open letter that TikTok wanted to pay a âfractionâ of the rate paid by other social media sites. âAs our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.â The sides have reportedly been in negotiations for the past year. Such deals are worth billions annually to music publishing companies â and Universal is the worldâs largest record label. If a deal isnât struck, TikTok creators would lose access to songs from stars including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, the Weeknd, Drake and others. [Continue reading.]( [Persona 3 Reload is a surprising dose of 2000s nostalgia]( Wired headphones. DVD players. Internet cafes. With Persona 3 Reload, developer Altus chose the most confusing (and influential) entry in the series to remake. There are some big changes you may not even notice if you havenât played the 2006 original recently, with new English language voice actors (all the Japanese VAs return from the original) and, interestingly, the most voiced scenes from any game in the Persona series. Oh, itâs also incredibly gorgeous at times. But damn, it makes me feel old. [Continue reading.]( [Hideo Kojima teases a new action-espionage game for PlayStation]( No, it wonât be a Metal Gear Solid title.
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Jordan Anderson via Getty Images]( Hideo Kojima appeared on PlayStationâs State of Play not only to give Death Stranding 2 another nudge but also to say heâs developing a brand-new game for PlayStation. Itâll be an action-espionage title codenamed PHYSINT â so nothing to do with the Metal Gear Solid series that made his name. Kojima Productions has started early work on the project, but it wonât go into full production until the team finishes Death Stranding 2. Which is looking[bonkers](. [Continue reading.]( [The latest Xbox controllers seem to be inspired by bowling balls]( Just the colors, not the shape.
The Xbox Design Lab is neat. You can customize the colors of your controller pretty much however you like, with more options for the Vapor series. The six top case options have swirling color patterns more typically seen at your local bowling alley. If that still exists. [Continue reading.]( The Morning After is a daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't [subscribe](. Craving even more? [Like us on Facebook]( or [follow us on Twitter](. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? [Send us a note.]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( You are receiving this email because you opted in at [engadget.com](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe from this newsletter.]( Copyright © 2024 Yahoo. All rights reserved.