🔎 What are kids seeing on social media?

Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY
·4 min read

Social media CEOs faced tough questions and victims' families at a Senate hearing. What the Fed had to say about interest rates today. And has Amelia Earhart's plane finally been found?

👋 Hey! Laura Davis here. We’ve made it to the final day of January, y’all. Now, it’s time for Wednesday’s news.

đŸ„° But first: How are you doing? Seriously. Reply to this email and let me know what's on your mind, if you want. I hope you're doing well! Elmo asked the same question on X the other day. Here's how it went.

Social media CEOs grilled by Congress

In the middle of a heated Senate hearing Wednesday on the dangers of social media, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood, turned around and faced families who have accused his platforms — Facebook and Instagram — of harming their children. It was a rare public apology, and it comes amid scathing criticism from lawmakers and child advocates who say the industry for years has failed to protect its most vulnerable users from abuse and exploitation. In bipartisan unison throughout the hearing, Congress chastised the leaders of some of the nation's top social media companies and called on them to take immediate steps to protect children and teens online. 👉 Here's what happened at the hearing.

CEO and founder of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, apologized to families in the audience during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis on January 31, 2024, at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
CEO and founder of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, apologized to families in the audience during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis on January 31, 2024, at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Texas town shaken over border battle

As the biggest forces of global migration, constitutional law and election-year politicking roil America, perhaps nowhere is more shaken than tiny Eagle Pass, Texas. Shelby Park, once a riverfront picnic spot, has become a militarized outpost — a city park where state officials face off with federal authorities over who will control international migration. In recent weeks, the city has found itself a discomfiting tourist destination for out-of-town visitors who want to lay eyes on the border themselves, a show of solidarity in what they see as an Abbott-Biden standoff. 👉 Take a closer look at the situation.

Juanita Martinez, 67, stands outside Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been taken over by Texas National Guard troops to stem the flow of undocumented migrants. Martinez opposes the closing of the park and other tactics, including concertina wire and buoys.
Juanita Martinez, 67, stands outside Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been taken over by Texas National Guard troops to stem the flow of undocumented migrants. Martinez opposes the closing of the park and other tactics, including concertina wire and buoys.

Real quick

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Interest rates hold steady

Despite rapidly slowing inflation, the Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady Wednesday and opened the door to rate cuts — but signaled that a March move is probably a long shot. The central bank is almost certainly done raising interest rates after 16 months of aggressive hikes to tame high inflation, and a rate cut is at least as likely as an increase. But the Fed also suggested it’s in no rush to reduce rates and wants to make sure inflation has been subdued for the long term before acting. đŸ’Č How it will affect your rates.

Is it Amelia Earhart’s airplane?

It's a mystery that has tantalized people for nine decades — and solving it isn't as easy as connecting the dots. Especially when those dots are tiny islands spread throughout the world's largest ocean. A team of underwater archaeologists with Deep Sea Vision, using marine robots equipped with sonar imaging, believe they may have found the airplane belonging to Amelia Earhart, the famed aviator who, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, disappeared as they tried to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. And while the world may be close to learning the fate of Earhart and Noonan 86 years after the pair's plane went down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, there are some significant challenges. First and foremost? The Pacific Ocean. It's huge, and it's deep – and the airplane is really, really small. 🔎 Here's what's next for the discovery.

The Lockheed Electra 'Flying Laboratory', piloted by American aviator Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan flies over the Golden Gate bridge in Oakland, California, at the start of a planned round-the-world flight, 17th March 1937.
The Lockheed Electra 'Flying Laboratory', piloted by American aviator Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan flies over the Golden Gate bridge in Oakland, California, at the start of a planned round-the-world flight, 17th March 1937.

A break from the news

Laura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at USA TODAY. Say hello: laura@usatoday.com.  Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to USA TODAY here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Social media CEO Senate hearing, Amelia Earhart airplane: Wednesday's news

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