Firm NewsCarrie Goldberg testified to the U.S. Senate about tech accountability to children

On February 19, 2025, our founder Carrie Goldberg testified to the Judiciary Senate Committee at the hearing Children’s Safety in the Digital Era: Strengthening Protections and Addressing Legal Gaps. Last year, this same committee – including Senators Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, and Ted Cruz – questioned the CEOs of Meta, Snap, X, Discord and TikTok during a hearing on child online safety. 

Carrie attended that hearing last January, providing her followers on X with a spirited live tweeting of everything that happened in that room, including Mark Zuckerberg’s stammering apology to families for the incredible pain that he has caused after being directed to do so by Senator Josh Hawley. This week, it was Carrie’s turn to testify to the same Committee! For 11+ years, our firm has been fighting for those who have been catastrophically injured by big tech and social media. This was a HUGE moment for our clients!  

Carrie testified alongside the following witnesses, all of whom provided their testimonies on protecting youth from online dangers, specifically Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and holding Big Tech responsible for the devastating and irreparable harms caused on their platforms: 

• Brandon Guffey, SC House District 48, President of Less Than 3 non profit, Consultant for Cyber Dive. Brandon is the father of Gavin Guffey, who died by suicide in 2022 and was a victim of sextortion at the hands of Meta 

• Mary Graw Leary, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America 

• John Pizzuro, CEO of Raven, Commander, New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (Ret), New Jersey State Police (Ret) 

• Stephen Balkam, CEO and Founder of Family Online Safety Institute 

Carrie’s testimony emphasizes the importance of having your day in court, which was also repeated (more than once) by Professor Leary during her own testimony.  

“I stand for the belief that our courts are the great equalizer. And the people who’ve been injured should have access to the courts. No matter how big, rich, or omniscient the adversary.” 

Carrie detailed her experiences fighting for families whose lives were forever changed by Big Tech platforms, including the firm’s cases against Meta, Omegle, Snap, BandLab, Grindr and Amazon. She also emphasized the defenses these companies raise EVERY SINGLE TIME. 

“In all my cases, Defendants raise two main defenses. Section 230 of course. But also that they didn’t have specific or actual knowledge of my client or their abuser, their account, their picture. They did not intend to harm my client they claim.” 

She notes throughout her testimony and during questioning that her cases rarely get to discovery, to the TRUTH, because of the protections these tech platforms have. During questioning, Senator Whitehouse agreed and stated that “discovery is a beautiful thing.” 

Carrie’s accompanying written testimony was adamant that any new laws enabling victims to sue Big Tech need to sensible. For instance, the most recent version of the STOP CSAM Act contains language that only lets victims sue if they know the platform had actual knowledge of their particular instance of victimization. This is an unreasonable standard. Instead the standard should be negligence or recklessness – i.e. that the platform was negligent or reckless about the risk. The written testimony contained 19 letters from survivors urging lawmakers to not require victims to show that the platform knew about the specific incident of abuse. 

Carrie’s testimony concludes by referencing last year’s hearing with the CEOs of Big Tech platforms and that these committee members said they were “done with discussions and desperate for solutions.” And that “families want laws that increase accountability…families want civil remedies against platforms where they’ve increased the risk of harms.” 

“We can’t have solutions that swap in one obstacle for families with another. For instance, it just won’t work if we remove Section 230 immunity, but replace it with the requirement that a plaintiff must plead the platform had actual knowledge of the specific incident of CSAM or trafficking.” 

Check out the full hearing, including the testimonies of the other witnesses and read Carrie’s full written testimony.