With opening statements done, Durbin starts his questioning. He's focused on Discord and TikTok — two of the newer entrants to the child safety issue.

Linda Yaccarino referred to companies that weren't in the hearing room in her opening statement.

For many advocates and parents, the first missing company that comes to mind is Apple.

In ads ahead of the hearing, a group called the Heat Initiative called out Apple's role in certain child exploitation places.

In interviews ahead of the hearing, several parents and audience members noted they wished they would have seen Apple executives in the hearing room.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that the company is new and that it is "not the platform of choice for children and teens."

"As a mother, this is personal and I share this sense of urgency," she said

Yaccarino said X removes child sexual content and the accounts that post it. She said that X suspended 12.4 million accounts that violated these policies last year, compared to 2.3 million removed by its predecessor Twitter in 2022.

Yaccarino shared her support for the REPORT Act, SHIELD Act and Stop CSAM Act. Durbin commended Yaccarino and X for being the first social media company to endorse the Stop CSAM Act.

TikTok plans to “invest more than $2 billion in trust and safety efforts” in 2024, CEO Shou Zi Chew said. A significant part of that investment will be in the platform's U.S. operations.

"TikTok is vigilant about enforcing its 13-and-up age policy and offers an experience for teens that is much more restrictive than you and I would have as adults," Chew said, noting that safety is one of the platform’s core priorities.

When outlining the safeguards available on TikTok, Chew said: “We didn’t do them last week” — a possible jab at other platforms testifying today.

Even though pictures and videos expire on Snapchat, Spiegel said that doesn't mean the platform is not paying attention to what is being shared.

In 2023, Snap made 690,000 reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which led to more than 1,000 arrests, according to Spiegel.

"When we take action on illegal or potentially harmful content, we also retain the evidence for an extended period, which allows us to support law enforcement and hold criminals accountable," he said.

Snap wants to be part of the solution, Spiegel said, adding that the platform is committed to acknowledging its shortcomings and working with lawmakers.

In his opening statement, Zuckerberg told lawmakers that teens have reported positive experiences on Meta apps.

He emphasized new features that have been rolled out on Facebook and Instagram that restrict teens' experiences on the platforms and encourage them to log off at night. Meta has invested $5 billion in child safety over the past year, Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg said he supports age verification and parental controls for minors. He also advocated for industry standards for age-appropriate content.

He wrapped up by directly addressed the families of children who lost their lives because of social media.

"These issues are important for every parent and every platform," he said. "I'm committed to continuing to work in these areas and I hope we can make progress today."

Some audience members in the Senate hearing room groaned and shouted through Zuckerberg's opening statements.

When the Meta CEO said that "the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health," murmurs spread through the room.

As Zuckerberg acknowledged the parents of dead children in the audience, one person shouted "NO THANKS."

This packed hearing is the biggest audience Durbin has ever seen in the committee room in his 22 years on the panel.

“I’d also like to take a moment to to acknowledge that this hearing has gathered a lot of attention," Durbin said. "As we expected, we have a large audience, the largest I’ve seen in this room, today.”

Next up is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg is a frequent guest on Capitol Hill, having testified on issues like censorship, data privacy, and election integrity.