TikTok Ban: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has completed his first public hearing before the United States Congress, in which he attempted to allay concerns about the Chinese-owned app’s ties to the Beijing government and its alleged inability to stem “harmful” content.
The hearing, which lasted more than five hours, was held in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday.
I like how TikTok CEO, Shou Chew delivers himself.
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It highlighted the growing bipartisan support for action against TikTok, with both Democrats and Republicans on the committee expressing doubts about the company’s independence from the Chinese government.
Chew, for one, aimed to portray the app, which has 150 million monthly users in the United States, as “a place where people can be creative and curious.” He also stated that the company is taking steps to exceed industry standards for data protection and transparency.
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Legislators repeatedly questioned Chew about China’s alleged influence over TikTok, an issue cited as a source of national security concerns by both Republican committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone.
Pallone referred to ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, as a “Beijing communist-based parent company.”
Shou Zi Chew’s testimony came at a critical juncture for the company, which has 150 million American users but is under increasing scrutiny from US officials. TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have become embroiled in a larger geopolitical conflict between Beijing and Washington over trade and technology.
TikTok, he added, “does not promote or remove content at the request of the Chinese government.”
Several lawmakers, however, seized on Chew’s statement that, because the company is based on “global interoperability,” Chinese engineers may still have access to some US data.
Chew denied claims that TikTok posed a national security risk. “I think a lot of the risks mentioned are hypothetical and theoretical risks,” he said.
