TikTok, Snap, YouTube execs grilled on impact on young users: Key takeaways

A Senate panel grilled YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat executives on what social media companies are doing to ensure kids' safety in the wake of revelations about Facebook.

A Senate panel on Tuesday grilled executives from YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on what social media companies are doing to ensure young users' safety in the wake of revelations about Facebook's practices and allegations the platforms need to do more to prevent potentially harmful effects on young users.

"They have deepened America's concern and outrage and have led to increasing calls for accountability, and there will be accountability," Senate Commerce subcommittee Chair Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in his opening remarks regarding the newly exposed details on the inner workings of social media giants.

"We're hearing the same stories of harm" caused by YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, Blumenthal said, calling this, "for Big Tech, a Big Tobacco moment."

"This time is different," he said.