At Senate hearing, tech CEOs grilled over protecting kids

Good morning. It's Thursday, February 1st. I'm Yasmeen Khan, in for Shamita Basu. This is "Apple News Today."

Things got tense between lawmakers and social media CEOs; Former football players struggle to get compensation from the NFL for dementia; And why some student-loan debts are disappearing.

But first, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news. In the Middle East, U.S. negotiators are trying to rally support for a ceasefire proposal in Gaza. It would begin with a six-week ceasefire. Hostages in Gaza and prisoners in Israel would be released in phases, and more humanitarian supplies would be allowed into Gaza for civilians. Aid workers say it can't come soon enough.

The yeas are 357, the nays are 70, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

But whether the bill can pass the Senate in time for the end of the tax filing season in April isn't clear. Several Senate Republicans are expressing concerns about the size of the tax cuts. Congress has not reached a bipartisan deal on more money for Ukraine. But today, the European Union is announcing an aid package worth more than $54 billion. That came after Hungary's prime minister agreed to the deal. He initially blocked it.

TikTok says Universal's being greedy and points out that it's made agreements with other major music companies. The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X, formerly known as Twitter, testified on Capitol Hill yesterday.

The hearing was about safety risks social media platforms pose to children, and it got pretty heated at times, with senators demanding the CEOs take more responsibility for the roles platforms play in facilitating online child abuse.

Would you like now to apologize to the victims who have been harmed by your product? Show them the pictures.

That's Republican Senator Josh Hawley talking to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Some of those victims were sitting behind him, holding pictures of family members who died. And Zuckerberg did stand up, turn around, and tell them he was sorry for what they'd been through.

And this is why we invest so much and are going to continue doing industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer.

But Zuckerberg did not agree to support the proposed "Kids Online Safety Act." The CEOs of TikTok and Discord did not agree to support it either. The bill would require online services to take new precautions to prevent harm to minors. Those against it, including civil liberties groups, say the bill, the way it's written, could conflict with free speech protections. Tech companies also cite free speech concerns in lawsuits aimed at new state laws.

I'm so tired of this. It's been 28 years, what, since the Internet? We haven't passed any of these bills 'cause everyone's double talk, double talk. It's time to actually pass them. And the reason they haven't passed is because of the power of your company. So, let's be really, really clear about that. So, what you say matters.

Back in 2015, the NFL settled a major lawsuit over long-term brain damage former players blamed on football.

The settlement created a medical fund for players who developed dementia or other brain diseases linked to concussions. The NFL promised that some retired players could be eligible for millions in payments. And it agreed to fund a national network of doctors to evaluate players. But a new "Washington Post" investigation found the NFL denied many players' claims, including those who have strong medical evidence of brain damage. Will Hobson is on the story.

One main component is that the settlement's definition for dementia actually is unique and more difficult to qualify for than the regular definition for dementia that doctors use in hospitals and clinics across the country. So, you have a significant number of players who are developing dementia symptoms of CT, going through this process, failing to qualify for medical care or money, and then dying and having CTE confirmed at autopsy.

CTE is a devastating brain condition linked to repeated blows to the head, and it's been found at alarming rates among NFL players. Last year, specialists at Boston University found CTE in 91% of former players they studied. And Hobson found, more than a dozen players who failed to qualify for the NFL settlement fund, or for medical care through the league, were diagnosed with CTE after they died. CTE can only be fully confirmed by examining the brain after death.

By 2018, his dementia that he was dealing with was fairly obvious to anyone who spent considerable time with him. He'd been diagnosed with dementia the year before, and doctors actually suspected, and put in his medical records, "We think he has CTE." So, he goes through the NFL settlement process, and while his symptoms meet the regular definition of dementia in American medicine, he doesn't have the necessary test scores in the NFL settlement.

Cross was denied settlement benefits. When he died three years later, an autopsy confirmed he had severe CTE. In total, court records show the NFL settlement panel, in charge of reviewing medical claims, has denied more than half of the dementia claims that it's received. The NFL often blames fraud for denials, but none of the rejected claims "The Post" reviewed contained allegations of fraud.

NFL players have a great degree of affection for each other and for some of the teams. But they hold the league itself in… a lot of them hold the league itself, in low regard, they tell us, and it's because of situations like this where they feel that the league made a public promise, but behind the scenes is avoiding following through on what it pledged it would do.

The NFL says the settlement has been effective, paying out nearly $1.2 billion to more than 1,600 former players and their families.

You can read more from this in-depth investigation from "The Washington Post" on the Apple News app. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that President Biden doesn't have the authority to broadly cancel student debt.

So, the administration has been trying other things. The latest starts this month. Certain borrowers could see their student debt disappear through a new program. The benefit applies to relatively small federal loans, initial debts of $21,000 or less, as long as people have been making payments on them. "NPR" reporter Corey Turner told me to qualify, it is essential to make sure you're enrolled in the federal program called SAVE.

Now, they don't have to have been enrolled. They just have to go ahead and enroll now because that then… basically, it's like they're in class, they're raising their hand. That tells the department, "Okay, we think we qualify, here we go."

Turner says this plan will make a huge difference for people still under the weight of smaller loans.

These are folks who are more likely to have gone to community college, or if they did go to a four-year program, you know, maybe they didn't finish, which means it's actually harder for them to actually keep up with the payments on that debt 'cause they never got a wage premium for it.

And many people owe more than their original loan amount because of interest. Turner says the new plan is seen as a big deal because it speeds up loan forgiveness. For the most part, people have been required to make payments on debt for 20 years to qualify for forgiveness. The government's new plan cuts that in half for some people with the smallest loans. But Turner says the program does have its critics because it is quite expensive.

Lots of people actually oppose the SAVE plan, mostly Republicans, because it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years because it is so forgiving.

You can read more about the plan's details and all the stories we talked about today in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from "New York" magazine. It's about a high-profile college admissions advisor promising to turn students into Ivy League material. But it ain't cheap. Parents must pay $120,000 a year.