Washington, D.C. - House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Full Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) wrote to Meta and other online marketplaces today requesting information regarding efforts to end the sale of banned and recalled hazardous products on their platforms.
KEY EXCERPTS FROM THE LETTER TO META:
“The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is tasked with keeping the public safe from consumer products that pose an unreasonable risk of injury or death. In addition to its own work, the CPSC relies on online marketplaces, like Meta, to keep consumers safe by preventing the posting for sale of products that are known to be dangerous. It is our understanding that Meta has been falling short on this mission."
[…]
“Meta’s failure to prevent recalled products from being posted for sale on its platform has resulted in your users and their children being placed at risk of purchasing and using a product that CPSC has found to pose a serious risk of injury and potential death."
BACKGROUND:
* The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) relies on online marketplaces to keep people safe by proactively preventing the sale of products that are known to be dangerous.
* Recent reports suggest that at least one platform, Meta, has fallen short of that responsibility, despite numerous takedown requests from CPSC.
* CPSC has issued takedown requests to various platforms, including several takedown requests for recalled products related to infant deaths.
* CPSC has formally issued an approximately one thousand take down requests a month for these products.
* To date, the volume of takedown requests has not slowed, and CPSC staff is unaware of any proactive measures by the platform in question to prevent these postings in the future.
* This lapse has resulted in thousands of users and their children being put at risk of using a product that has been found to pose serious risk of injury and potential death.
The Chairs and Ranking members asked companies to provide answers to the following questions by Aug. 31, 2023:
1. What systems do you have in place to ensure recalled products that the CPSC has determined pose a serious risk of injury and potential death are not able to be posted to your marketplace?
2. Do you have a compliance staff dedicated to consumer product safety issues?
3. If so, how many full and or part time staff are on that team?
4. What actions do you take to monitor CPSC recalls?
5. What actions will you take to ensure that the Fisher Price Rock ‘n Play, Boppy Newborn Lounger, and similarly designed and/or other recalled products are not available on your platform moving forward?
6. Are there statutory issues that are creating a gray area where it is unclear what the platform’s responsibilities are?
7. Will you commit to working with the Committee to find a solution to this, to ensure that CPSC’s resources are not wasted on sending thousands of takedown requests for products that pose a known hazard and are for sale on your marketplace?