The Senate Commerce Committee simply wrapped up one other three-hour hearing about social media’s impact on kids and youths. But the most recent listening to was totally different from earlier ones in an vital means: it featured representatives from TikTok, Youtube and Snap.

Though the three apps are among the hottest apps amongst teenagers and youthful customers, all three have gotten much less consideration from lawmakers than Facebook and even Twitter. It was the primary time TikTok and Snap had appeared at such a listening to. All three corporations tried to go off criticism by drawing distinctions between their platforms and Facebook, which has lately drawn comparisons to tobacco corporations. And every firm promised new options to ramp up parental controls and different baby protections on their service.

YouTube VP Leslie Miller mentioned the corporate was engaged on a brand new characteristic that may permit mother and father to “choose a locked default autoplay setting” within the YouTube Kids app, along with different new parental controls. She didn’t present additional element, however mentioned it could launch “in the coming months.”

Snap additionally mentioned it was engaged on new options for folks, with Jennifer Stout, the corporate’s VP of Global Public Policy, saying the options could be “rolling out very soon.” She mentioned the replace would permit mother and father to view details about how their kids are utilizing Snapchat, corresponding to who they spend essentially the most time chatting with and what their privateness and placement settings are.

TikTok mentioned it could add extra controls to permit mother and father and kids to raised customise their feeds, however was gentle on specifics. “We’re investing in new ways for our community to enjoy content based on age appropriateness or family comfort,” mentioned Michael Beckerman, the corporate’s VP of Public Policy, “We’re developing more features that empower people to shape and customize their experience in the app.”

But the senators of the Commerce Committee appeared unimpressed by these guarantees. Throughout the listening to, they pushed the businesses on points like algorithmically-boosted content material about and self hurt on YouTube and TikTok. Snap’s Stout was pushed on what the corporate is doing to cease on its platform.

Several Republican senators additionally pushed Beckerman on TikTok’s ties to Chinese mum or dad firm ByteDance, and the way it handles US person information. In one notably memorable trade, Senator Ted Cruz mentioned Beckerman was dodging questions on TikTok’s affiliation with an organization known as Beijing ByteDance Technology, which reportedly to the Chinese authorities. Beckerman additionally deflected questions on what information TikTok collects by saying Facebook and Instagram acquire extra information about customers than TikTok does.

Though Facebook wasn’t formally a part of the listening to, disclosures from whistleblower Frances Haugen have been referenced a number of occasions. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who at a earlier listening to mentioned Facebook and different corporations have been going through a “big tobacco moment,” mentioned that “tech is not irredeemably bad like big tobacco.”

But he mentioned that the businesses must do rather more than show they’re “different” from Facebook. “I understand from your testimony that your defense is ‘we’re not Facebook,’” he mentioned. “Being different from Facebook is not a defense. That bar is in the gutter. It’s not a defense to say that you are different.”