Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube agreed on Tuesday in a hearing before the US Senate that they would convince lawmakers that they do not resemble Facebook. According to the companies of these social networks, they have developed privacy measures for minors.
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The hearing took place as a result of documents leaked by the Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, who claimed that the company prioritized its profits over the safety of the little ones.
Michael Beckerman, vice president of TikTok and director of public policy for America detailed that direct messages and other social functions are disabled by default for teenagers. “TikTok is a global entertainment platform where people create and watch short-form videos“Beckerman pointed out.
In the face of testimony, lawmakers continued to fear that the apps could be just as harmful. “Being different from Facebook is not a defense”Said Senator Richard Blumenthal, the chair of the subcommittee.
Before representatives from Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube appeared before the Senate in defense of the platforms, Facebook’s chief security officer, Antigone Davis, and whistleblower Frances Haugen had spoken out about the damaging effects of the company’s services.
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Facebook’s internal investigation that came to light at that hearing found that Instagram gets worse “body image problems for one in three teens”. Previously, the company had refused to publish these documents.
Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube have vowed to publicize all the studies they’ve done so they don’t get splattered by Facebook research. Nevertheless, Blumenthal communicated to the media that legislators “they were going to apply the legislation”, including updates to the Children’s Internet Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and possible marking in the Children’s Act.
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