TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, was forced to defend his company’s relationship with China, as well as protection for the company’s youngest users, in a previous hearing. Congress on Thursday comes amid a bipartisan push to completely ban the app in the United States on national security grounds.
The hearing marks the TikTok chief executive’s first appearance before US lawmakers and a rare public appearance for Chew, 40, who remains in the spotlight given his popularity. of this social network skyrocketed. TikTok currently has tens of millions of US users, but lawmakers have long worried about China’s control of the app, something Chew repeatedly tried to placate during the hearing. “Let me say this unequivocally:
ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said in testimony Thursday.
The interrogation began harshly with committee members criticizing Chew over his connections to executives of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, with whom lawmakers allege had ties with the Communist Party of China. Committee members asked how often Chew communicates with them and questioned whether the company’s proposed solutions to data privacy problems in the United States provide sufficient protection against Chinese law requiring companies to report user data that the government can access.
Chew’s claims of independence from the Chinese government were marred by a Wall Street Journal article published just hours before the hearing that said China would strongly oppose any coercive selling. company. In the first response to Joe Biden’s threat of a nationwide ban, unless ByteDance sells its shares, China’s Ministry of Commerce said such a move would involve technology exports from China and therefore must be approved by the Chinese government.
Lawmakers also questioned Chew, a former Goldman Sachs banker who has run the company since March 2021, about the platform’s impact on mental health, especially those of young use. Republican Representative Gus Bilirakis shared the story of Chase Nasca, a 16-year-old boy who committed suicide a year ago while walking in front of a train. Nasca’s parents, who sued ByteDance, alleging that Chase was “targeted” by unsolicited self-harm content, appeared in court and was moved when Bilirakis told their son’s story.
Bilirakis said: “I want to thank his parents for being here today and allowing us to show him. “Brother Chew, your business ruined their lives.”
Chew confirmed his children are not on TikTok, but said that is because in Singapore, where they live, there is no version of the platform for users under the age of 13.
Chew, who held a relatively low profile during his two years as CEO, spent most of the five-hour hearing highlighting TikTok’s distance from the Chinese government, beginning his testimony. by emphasizing her own Singaporean heritage. Chew talked about Project Texas — an effort to move all U.S. data to a domestic server — and said the company is deleting all US user data backed up on servers outside of the country by the end of the year. year. Some lawmakers expressed skepticism that the Texas project is too big of a commitment and won’t address data privacy concerns in the United States any time soon. “I’m afraid what you’re offering with Project Texas doesn’t have the technical ability to give us the assurance we need,” said Jay Obernolte, software engineer for the California Republican Party.
