Yet, while watching the hearing with TikTok and Snapchat execs on Tuesday, some Senators, namely Republicans, lost the plot and were back to bickering over their old partisan pet issues. The Facebook hearings were focused on the issue at hand: child safety on social media platforms. In those initial hearings, there appeared to be a rare instance of bipartisan support for some sort of Congressional action to be taken over what was learned in the leaked documents. The same subcommittee recently grilled Facebook and questioned Haugen earlier this month over the trove of internal company documents she leaked to the press. These documents detailed how the social media company's own research found that its platforms, such as Instagram, were having negative effects on the mental health of kids, especially young women. The issue has been thrust into the spotlight recently due to internal Facebook documents leaked by former employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen.
On Tuesday, executives from TikTok and Snapchat as well as a representative from YouTube answered questions from members of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security surrounding the current hot-button topic: Kids' safety on social media platforms. It's TikTok and Snapchat's turn in the hot seat on Capitol Hill.