Shadowing Practice: Zuckerberg and Senator Hawley clash in fiery child safety hearing - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
Mr. Zuckerberg, let me start with you.
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Mr. Zuckerberg, let me start with you.
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Did I hear you say in your opening statement that there's no link between mental health and social media use?
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Senator, what I said is I think it's important to look at the science.
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I know it's people widely talk about this as if that is something that's already been proven.
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And I think that the bulk of the scientific evidence does not support that.
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Well, really, let me just remind you of some of the science from your own company.
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Instagram studied the effect of your platform on teenagers.
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Let me just read you some quotes from the Wall Street Journal's report on this.
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Company researchers found that Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of teenagers, most notably teenage girls.
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Here's a quote from your own study.
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Quote, we make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.
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Here's another quote.
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Teens blamed Instagram.
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This is your study for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression.
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This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.
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That's your study.
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Senator, we try to understand the feedback and how people feel about the services.
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We can improve.
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Wait a minute.
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Your own study says that you make life worse for one in three teenage girls.
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You increase anxiety and depression.
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That's what it says.
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And you're here testifying to us in public that there's no link.
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You've been doing this for years.
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For years you've been coming in public and testifying under oath that there's absolutely no link.
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Your product is wonderful.
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The science is nascent.
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Full speed ahead.
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While internally you know full well your product is a disaster for teenagers.
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And yet you keep right on doing what you're doing.
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Right?
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That's not true.
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That's not true.
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Let me show you some other facts I know that you're familiar with.
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You can carry the data points if you want.
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That's not a question.
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That's not a question.
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Those are facts, Mr. Zuckerberg.
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That's not a question.
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Those aren't facts.
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Let me show you some more facts.
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Here are some information from a whistleblower who came before the Senate, testified under oath in public.
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He worked for you.
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He's a senior executive.
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Here's what he showed he found when he studied your products.
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So, for example, this is girls between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.
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37 percent of them reported that they had been exposed to nudity on the platform unwanted in the last seven days.
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Twenty four percent said that they had experienced unwanted sexual advances.
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They've been propositioned in the last seven days.
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17% said they had encountered self-harm content pushed at them in the last seven days.
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Now, I know you're familiar with these stats because he sent you an email where he lined it all out.
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I mean, we've got a copy of it right here.
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My question is, who did you fire for this?
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Who got fired because of that?
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Senator, we study all this because it's important and we want to improve our services.
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Well, you just told me a second ago that you studied it, but there was no linkage. Who did you fire?
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I said you mischaracterized 37% of teenage girls between 13 and 15 were exposed to unwanted nudity in a week on Instagram.
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You knew about it.
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Who did you fire?
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Senator, this is why we're building all.
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Who did you fire?
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Senator, that's I don't think that that's who did you fire?
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I'm not going to answer that.
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Because you didn't fire anybody, right?
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You didn't take any significant action.
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It's appropriate to talk about individual HR decisions.
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Do you know who's sitting behind you?
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You've got families from across the nation whose children are either severely harmed or gone,
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and you don't think it's appropriate to talk about steps that you took?
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The fact that you didn't fire a single person?
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Let me ask you this.
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Let me ask you this.
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Have you compensated any of the victims?
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Sorry?
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Have you compensated any of the victims?
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These girls, have you compensated them?
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I don't believe so.
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Why not?
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Don't you think they deserve some compensation for what your platform has done?
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Help with counseling services, help with dealing with the issues that your services caused?
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Our job is to make sure that we build tools to help keep people safe.
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Are you going to compensate them?
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Senator, our job and what we take seriously is making sure
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that we build industry living tools to find harmful to make money, take it off the services to make money and to build tools that empower parents.
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So you didn't take any action.
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You didn't take any action.
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You didn't fire anybody.
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You haven't compensated a single victim.
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Let me ask you this.
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Let me ask you this.
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There's families of victims here today.
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Have you apologized to the victims?
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I Would you like to do so now?
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Well, they're here.
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You're on national television.
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Would you like now to apologize to the victims who have been harmed by your product?
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Show them the pictures.
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Would you like to apologize for what you've done to these good people?
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I'm sorry.
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I'm sorry.
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I'm not going to go through the things that your families have suffered.
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And this is why we invested so much.
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And everybody, you do the street being efforts to make sure that.
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No one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer.
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You know, why?
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Why, Mr. Zuckerberg, why should your company not be sued for this?
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Why is it that you can claim you hide behind a liability shield?
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You can't be held accountable.
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Shouldn't you be held accountable personally?
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Will you take personal responsibility?
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Senator, I think I've already answered this.
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I mean, this is.
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We'll try it again.
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Will you take personal responsibility?
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Senator, I view my job and the job of our company is building the best tools
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that we can to keep our community safe.
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Well, you're failing at that.
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Well, Senator, we're doing an industry-leading effort.
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We build AI tools that...
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Oh, nonsense.
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Your product is killing people.
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Will you personally commit to compensating the victims?
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You're a billionaire.
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Will you commit to compensating the victims?
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Will you set up a compensation fund with your money?
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Senator, I think these are complicated...
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With your money.
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Senator, these are complicated issues.
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Yes, no, that's not a complicated question, though.
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That's a yes or no. Will you set up a victim's compensation fund with your money, the money you made on these families sitting behind you?
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Yes or no?
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Senator, I don't think that that's...
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My job is to make sure we build good tools.
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My job is to make sure that your job is to be responsible for what your company has done.
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You've made billions of dollars on the people sitting behind you here.
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You've done nothing to help them.
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You've done nothing to compensate them.
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You've done nothing to put it right.
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You could do so here today, and you should.
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You should, Mr. Zuckerberg.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will engage with a heated exchange between notable figures discussing the impact of social media on mental health, particularly among teenagers. By analyzing this dialogue, you will practice your English speaking skills and enhance your pronunciation. You'll focus on understanding challenging vocabulary and phrases, while also learning to articulate emotions and stances presented in the conversation. This lesson is ideal for learners looking to improve their shadowspeak and become more confident in expressing complex ideas in English.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- mental health - the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of individuals.
- harmful - causing or capable of causing damage or injury.
- body image - a person's perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body.
- anxiety - a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.
- unwanted content - material that is not desired by users, often intrusive or distressing.
- self-harm - the act of deliberately inflicting pain or injury to oneself.
- testifying under oath - giving a formal statement in a legal setting, affirming its truthfulness.
- propositioned - approached with a request for sexual favors.
Practice Tips
As you immerse yourself in this lesson, consider the following shadowing techniques to improve your English pronunciation and oral skills:
- Listen to the transcript carefully to grasp the tone and pace of the speakers. The conversation includes rapid exchanges that express strong emotions; mimicking this can enhance your shadow speech.
- Begin by repeating smaller phrases to ensure clarity in your speech. Focus on the intonation and emotional inflections, especially in phrases that convey urgency or concern.
- Record yourself practicing and listen for areas to improve. Pay special attention to how you pronounce key vocabulary items; this will help solidify your understanding and usage of important terms.
- Engage in English speaking practice by discussing the topics presented in the video with friends or language partners. This will help you internalize the vocabulary and apply it in a real-world context.
- Lastly, practice speaking at varying speeds. Sometimes you may need to articulate slowly for clarity, while other times, you may want to emulate the speed of the original dialogue for flow and rhythm.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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