Sen. Blumenthal's 'finsta' gaffe was so bad even Urban Dictionary fact-checked him

Greg P. | 7:08 AM on October 02, 2021

For the “people who make our laws are morons” file, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Thursday asked Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety on Facebook during a hearing if the company would “commit to ending finsta.”

Finsta, for those of you who don’t know, is slang for “Fake Instagram” and it’s a term kids use to describe their anonymous social media accounts that their parents don’t know about:

Sen. Blumenthal, stern-faced, asked Facebook's Antigone Davis, "Will you commit to ending Finsta?"

Davis explained that it's slang for a fake account–not an official Instagram product or service.

— Will Oremus (@WillOremus) September 30, 2021

Watch this epic buffoonery for yourself:

Sen. Blumenthal asks Facebook "Will you commit to ending Finsta?"

Facebook's safety chief has to explain that Finsta is slang for a fake account. pic.twitter.com/jMYy5AIZjY

— Eric Morrow (@morroweric) September 30, 2021

Blumenthal doubling down *after* she explained it’s a slang turn is a really nice touch. How do his staffers let him go out and ask this question?

Sen. Blumenthal: "Will you commit to ending finsta?"

Facebook global head of safety Antigone Davis: "We don't actually do finsta…"

Blumenthal: "Finsta is one of your products or services…"

Davis: "Finsta is slang."

— Brian Contreras (@_B_Contreras_) September 30, 2021

Blumenthal is lucky she didn’t just laugh in his face:

The first and only time I will ever feel bad for Facebook is watching this woman realize she's going to have to explain what Finsta is to a U.S. senator in a live congressional hearing. I'm not sure I could get through it https://t.co/aFJsFQRSov

— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) September 30, 2021

We’re being governed on tech issues by old people who probably can’t change the default passwords on their home WiFi routers. We’re really screwed:

If you wondered why there are no regulations for child influencers it's because our elected representatives are too busy trying to figure out what "finsta" means https://t.co/AQdfiOZXsG

— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) September 30, 2021

Blumenthal’s gaffe was so bad that even Urban Dictionar fact-checked him: