Mark Zuckerberg is being pressured by senators to reveal information about Instagram's "warning screens" that enabled users to view potential child sex abuse content.

• The Judiciary Committee senators wrote a letter to Meta requesting information about Instagram's "warning screens" that were used to display potential child sexual abuse material.
• A letter, obtained by CNBC, was released following a contentious January hearing where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was grilled about Instagram's policies regarding such content.
• The efforts of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass legislation that holds social media companies accountable for harmful content on their platforms are hindered by the calendar and the upcoming 2024 elections.

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee intensified their call for information from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, regarding Instagram's "warning screens" for child sexual abuse material, as revealed in a letter obtained by CNBC.

The committee's chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, directed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to provide a trove of records and responses within 11 days regarding a mysterious chapter in Instagram's history, and to preserve any records related to how the Meta platforms' algorithms handled child sexual abuse material.

The contentious and emotional Judiciary Committee hearing in January about social media and child sexual abuse material was followed by a letter from Durbin and Cruz. During the hearing, Zuckerberg was repeatedly pushed into the spotlight by both Republicans and Democrats.

The Meta CEO was questioned by Cruz about a previously available feature on Instagram, which was described as a "warning screen" that users needed to either heed or bypass before the social media platform granted them access to view search results for terms likely to produce images of child sex abuse.

The Wall Street Journal pressured the company to remove the warning screen option in June of last year after reporting on the abusive content on the platform.

Instagram declined to disclose to the Journal the creation date, reason, and individual responsible for the warning screen feature.

Despite the warning that the search results may contain images of child sexual abuse and viewing them is a crime, there was an option to "See results anyway" at the bottom of the widget.

A Meta spokesperson stated that the warning screen button is no longer visible in response to CNBC's inquiry about the senators' letter.

During the Senate hearing, Cruz questioned Zuckerberg about the number of times the warning screen had been displayed and the number of times users clicked on the "See results anyway" option. Zuckerberg admitted that he did not have the specific details but promised to investigate and provide answers.

Cruz has now submitted a formal congressional request for records, nearly two weeks after the initial inquiry.

Zuckerberg was requested by Monday to disclose whether Meta carried out any additional probes into the users who clicked "See results anyway," and how many minors' profiles were viewed beyond the warning screen.

The list of demands included a detailed explanation of Meta's decision to remove the warning screen and all documents related to Meta's development of the screen and the decision to display it.

Both Republicans and Democrats have pledged to enact legislation that would make social media companies responsible for removing child sexual abuse content from their platforms.

Despite bipartisan support for several bills addressing the issue, the packed legislative schedule and upcoming presidential and congressional elections make the likelihood of any action on the matter this year only 50/50.

The app store giants Google and Apple are facing a fierce lobbying battle from Meta and other social media platforms regarding the location and method of age verification online.

Any age verification for platform providers like Meta and ByteDance, including TikTok, should occur at the app store level, with parental approval necessary for users under 16 to download apps.

Apple and Google propose that social media apps should be individually responsible for verifying the ages of their users and obtaining parental consent for minors when necessary.