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YouTube, TikTok And Snap Will Have To Testify Before Congress Over Kids Safety

This article is more than 2 years old.

The Congressional subcomittee that forced Facebook into the hot seat earlier this month will next do the same to several other social media giants.

YouTube, TikTok and Snap executives will head to Capitol Hill next Tuesday to answer questions from the Senate Commerce Committee, which plans to ask about how those platforms safeguard their young users. It previously hosted a length session with Facebook whistle-blower Frances Haugen, asking her to explain the contents of a massive trove of internal documents that she leaked.

“Recent revelations about harm to kids online show that Big Tech is facing its Big Tobacco moment—a moment of reckoning,” says Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic chair of the subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety and data security. “We need to understand the impact of popular platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube on children and what companies can do better to keep them safe.”

Facebook has so far faced the brunt of criticism from lawmakers and other observers who fear that social media companies are hurting young users in their efforts to keep engaged. But Facebook isn’t the only company eager to capture the attention of pre-teens and teenagers, and much of what has driven Facebook to act aggresively in courting young people is the competition from YouTube, Snap and TikTok.

Haugen’s disclosures has seemed to rekindle interest in Washington, D.C. in drafting new regulations over Big Tech, discussions that have drawn bipartisan support in the past but have failed to gain momentum ahead of bigger policy discussions over the coronavirus and the economic recovery.

It’s not clear who TikTok, Snap and YouTube will send to talk to the lawmakers. Facebook previously sent Antigone Davis, its head of safety, to appear before the subcommittee in September, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg has largely left the task of defending the company to trusted lieutenants like Davis. While it is unlikely that any of the three latest businesses bound for Congress will send their CEOs, such a move could signal a greater willingess to cooperate with politicians and acknowledge the inherent complications about designing apps meant for children and young people.

TikTok faces an even greater complication: The company is Chinese owned and run by a new, Asia-based CEO, Shouzi Chew. The app has already faced significant secrutiny over its connections to China’s communist government, leading to President Trump’s months-long campaign last year to ban the app in America. TikTok has watched those fears largely fade away in recent months under the Biden Administration as it has continued to add millions of new users.

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