U.S. lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle agree on virtually nothing these days. The exception is when the topic is Facebook.

Republicans and Democrats grilled Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, on Thursday, in a hearing before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection. Antigone was called by the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection to testify via video. She answered questions regarding Instagram’s effect on teens’ mental health and Facebook’s plans to create more targeted products for children.

The hearing, titled “Protecting Kids Online: Facebook, Instagram, and Mental Health Harms,” follows a series of Wall Street Journal reports earlier this month that were based on internal studies conducted by Facebook researchers. The stories demonstrated that Facebook knows about the detrimental effects Instagram can have on mental health and well-being of its young users. In particular, Facebook’s own studies showed that 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced their desire to commit suicide back to Instagram.

Davis answered nearly three hours of questions and was attentive as senators made comparisons to Facebook with the tobacco industry. For years, the company knowingly concealed the dangers it sold.

Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said that Facebook is similar to Big Tobacco. They push a product they know is dangerous to young people’s health and promote it early to make money.

Here are the highlights from Thursday’s hearing:

Facebook can’t hold itself accountable

Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chair of the subcommittee, kicked off the hearing by accusing Facebook of showing that it’s incapable of holding itself accountable. Blumenthal stated that Journal stories and documents provided by the whistleblower from Facebook gave him “deep insights into Facebook’s campaign to recruit and abuse young users.”

Blumenthal explained that although Facebook claims that Instagram is not harmful to teens, experts and Facebook researchers privately have known for years that this was the case. We now know Facebook puts profit above kids’ safety online, that it prioritizes growth over children’s wellbeing, and that it fails to act in a way that protects them.

Blumenthal noted also that Facebook documents showed the company was untrue in previous correspondences with senators.

He said that in August, he and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., ranking member of the subcommittee, wrote to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and asked, “Has Facebook research ever found that its platforms and products have a negative effect on children’s and teens’ mental health or well-being?”

Responding, Facebook said that it did not have any data or consensus from experts on the amount of screen time too.

Blumenthal stated that “that response was simply not true.” It knows that Instagram is the only source of evidence proving harm to teenagers.

Facebook is non-committal on Instagram Kids

One of the central issues of concern to lawmakers on Thursday was Facebook’s Instagram Kids product.

The project, first reported by BuzzFeed in March and further exposed by the Journal, led Facebook to announce this week that it will pause development of an Instagram app for people under the age of 13.

Senators asked Davis during the hearing if Facebook would agree to stop creating Instagram Kids.

Are you committing not to open a new site with features like follower count and like buttons that enable children to gauge popularity?” Markey asked Markey.

Davis did not respond to Markey’s request and stated that the company would continue looking into which features are most appropriate for children.

Davis explained, “Sen. Markey. These are the features that will be discussed with our specialists trying to understand in reality what is best for children and not. We will also discuss these features with them.”

Facebook cherry picks the research it shares

On Wednesday, Facebook released two slide decks with its research on Instagram’s impact on teen mental health. In the knowledge that all documents contributing to the Journal’s reporting were about to be released, O’Leary published the decks.

The Journal ended up publishing six decksThe decks contained far more detail than Facebook made available to the public. Facebook often included annotations which discredit the research of its own scientists.

Davis stated to senators during the hearing that her research wasn’t complete or was incorrectly presented. Ted Cruz (Republican from Texas) said that Davis’ answers are not complete and did not add up. He asked the company if it planned to make all its research available to the public.

We are told by you that you don’t want to release the research if you didn’t know all of the details. Which one is it? Cruz asked.

Davis replied that the company was still determining the potential for additional research.

Cruz replied, “So we’ve cherry selected the ones that you want to see.”

Cruz then asked Davis to discuss the data showing that teens can track their thoughts back to Instagram in both the U.S.A and U.K. Davis stated that those statistics were inaccurate and misleading.

Big Tobacco playbook

In his opening remarks, Blumenthal highlighted findings from Facebook’s research, showing that many teens feel addicted to their use of Instagram.

He stated that Facebook had taken Big Tobacco’s approach to its research. It has hid its research about addiction and toxic effects of its products. The company has tried to mislead the public and Congress members. And it has used childhood vulnerability against the children it is trying to target.

These remarks were repeated by Senator Markey.

He said that Instagramgram was a first-generation cigarette designed to lure teens into smoking. It also exploits the popularity pressure and eventually puts their health at risk.

‘We don’t actually do finsta’

As in seemingly every hearing involving Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley, there was a moment underscoring how little lawmakers often understand about the nuances of the internet.

Blumenthal asked Davis about the term “finsta” which refers to Instagram accounts not associated with an individual’s real identity. Many Finsta accounts can be used anonymously to spy on the posts of other users.

“Willing to stop finsta?” Blumenthal inquired.

Davis hesitated before replying, “Senator. Again, let me clarify.” Finsta is not something we do.

Blumenthal continued by asking Blumenthal, “Finsta’s one of your products? It’s not Apple and Google. “It’s Facebook, correct?

Davis stated that Finsta was a slang term for an account type.

The conversation was reminiscent of an exchange at a congressional hearing in 2018. Orrin, a Utah Republic senator, asked Zuckerberg “How do I sustain a model in which users don’t pay for my service?”

Facebook is widely known for its highly-targeted advertising, which has been used by many of the biggest businesses in the world to reach potential customers.

“Senator, we run ads,” Zuckerberg said.