Oops? Interdisciplinary Stories of Sociotechnical Error| Peeling Back the Layers of “Paint on Rotten Wood”: Unraveling the Senate’s “Big Tech and Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” Hearing

Abstract

This paper analyzes the 2024 Senate hearing on “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis.” It reveals how misattributions of harm, misaligned solutions, and misdirected remedies proposed may cascade into systemic failures. These errors, rooted in simplistic understandings of technology and childhood, risk hindering effective governance and overlooking emerging risks online to minor users.