WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – TikTok and other major social media platforms will be facing questions regarding content that might have encouraged children or teens to vandalize and steal school facilities.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on TikTok and Alphabet’s Snapchat and YouTube. It stated that the apps were “misused to harm children and promote destructive acts such as bullying in schools, viral challenges, vandalism, suicide, manipulation influencer marketing and grooming”

Michael Beckerman from TikTok Americas, the head of public policy, stated in a prepared statement that he was able to take down “devious licks” content quickly.

TikTok’s “devious tricks” trend prompted students to steal or vandalize schools.

Beckerman testified that content related to “devious licks” gained traction recently on TikTok, and other platforms. “Our moderation team worked quickly to remove the content and redirect search hashtags.

Results… To discourage this behavior.”

Beckerman said TikTok had “issued special guidance to our teams regarding this violative material and proactively detected the content, including hashtags and audio associ with the trend,” and also looked for spelling variations that could be used to avoid moderators.

Snap Inc (NYSE) Jennifer Stout from the Vice President of Global Public Policy at Snapchat stated that Snapchat’s purpose is to encourage conversations among friends and not create viral content. Human moderators review all professionally created content as well as certain stories featured on Snapchat.

YouTube’s Leslie Miller (vp of public affairs) was expected to say that YouTube encourages healthy behavior and makes sure children are only exposed to age-appropriate material. YouTube has been accused by many of its misinformation, including on politics and coronavirus vaccines.

This hearing is part of an extensive inquiry that examines what legislators from both sides see as Big Tech’s increasing negative impact on society, competition and children.