Six conclusions from a controversial online hearing on child safety.

“I'm sorry for everything you've all been through,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “No one should have to experience what your families suffered.” He said his company operated in a way that no one else would have to, and did not elaborate on Meta's role.

Meta and TikTok leaders took most of the heat.

Although executives from Meta, Snap, Discord, . Senators questioned the two men about the number of abuse incidents on their platforms.

Two of the five CEOs agreed to support the Kids Online Safety Act.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Linda Yaccarino, who leads X, both agreed to support the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). The proposed law would require online services such as social media networks, video game sites and messaging apps to take “reasonable measures” to prevent harm – including online bullying, harassment, sexual exploitation, anorexia, self-harm and predatory marketing – to minors using their platforms. Mr Zuckerberg, Mr Chew and Jason Citron, the CEO of Discord, have not pledged their support, with some saying it was helpful in terms of direction but contained some overly broad restrictions that could conflict with free speech issues .

TikTok faced heat for its ties to China.

Lawmakers have repeatedly pressed Mr. Chew about TikTok's ties to the Chinese government, thanks to ByteDance's Chinese ownership. Mr Chew, who was born in Singapore and still lives there with his three children, was asked whether he had a Chinese passport or had ever applied for Chinese citizenship. (He hadn't, even though he had lived in Beijing for five years.) He was also questioned about the progress of TikTok's multibillion-dollar plan to shield sensitive U.S. user data.

After years of debate, no bills have been passed.

Despite years of publicly railing against Big Tech, no meaningful legislation has passed Congress to be signed into law.

Sapna Maheshwari contributed reporting from New York.