WASHINGTON: In his first appearance before US Congress on Thursday, video-sharing app, TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew was grilled by lawmakers who expressed their reservation that the China-based company was attempting to share the US user data with the Chinese government.
TikTok is among America’s most popular social media apps, with over 150 million active users.
At the hearing, which lasted for over five hours, it started with calls from a lawmaker to prohibit the app in the United States. It offered an intense display of the bipartisan push to crackdown on the popular short-form video app and the company’s uphill battle to improve ties with Washington, CNN said.
Republican member from Washington Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, opened the hearing by telling the TikTok CEO that his platform should be banned.
Chew stressed that China did not influence TikTok. He said TikTok was unavailable in mainland China and headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore. He said that they have 7,000 employees in the US.
He said that still, they have heard vital concerns about the potential for unwelcome foreign access to US data and possible manipulation of the TikTok US ecosystem.
Chew said that their approach had never been to dismiss or trivialise any of such concerns and they have addressed them with real action.
TikTok did not operate in China, but since the Chinese government enjoys substantial leverage over businesses under its jurisdiction, ByteDance, which owns TikTok, could be forced to collaborate with a broad range of security activities, including the possible transfer of US data.
Chew stressed that the company was not an arm of the Chinese government. However, it appeared to fall on deaf ears as several members of Congress interrupted the chief executive’s testimony and said they did not believe him.
Rep McMorris Rodgers said that to the Americans watching today, TikTok was a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party to spy on them, manipulate what they see and exploit for future generations.
In an exchange with California Democratic Anna Eshoo, Chew talked about TikTok’s ongoing efforts to protect US user data and said he had “seen no evidence that China has access to the data. He said that the Chinese government has never asked them to share the data and they have not provided it.
Eshoo fired back and said she found that preposterous. To this, Chew said he had seen no evidence of that happening. He said his commitment was to move their data into the United States, to be stored on American soil by an American firm and supervised by American personnel. He said the risk would be similar to any government going to an American company and asking for data.
Eshoo said she did believe that TikTok and Chew had done anything to convince them. Chew stressed TikTok’s practices were no different than US technology giants.
As Congrss lawmakers doubled down on their questions about the company’s data collection practices, Chew also emphasised that the data
TikTok collected was just data and many other companies in the industry frequently collected that.
He said that they were committed to be very transparent with their users about what they collect. Chew said, he believed what they collect was only what most players in the industry.
TikTok’s impact on children key point of focus
While US national security was expected to be the main focus of the hearing, several lawmakers also highlighted concerns about TikTok’s impact on children.
New Jersey Democratic Rep Frank Pallone, a committee ranking member, said that research had found that TikTok’s algorithms recommend videos to teens that created and exacerbated feelings of emotional distress, including videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
Republican from Ohio Bob Latta accused TikTok of promoting a video on the so-called “blackout challenge,” or choking challenge to the feed of a 10-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, who later died after trying to mimic the challenge in the video.
Republican Gus Bilirakis of Florida also said there is a lack of adequate content moderation, which leaves room for children to be exposed to content that promotes self-harm.
Bilirakis said that your technology was literally leading to death.
Citing examples of damaging content served to children, he said, “it ws unacceptable that even after knowing all these dangers, the company still claims that TikTok was something grand to behold.”
Democrat from California Tony Cárdenas blasted Chew for indirect responses and compared him to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who in his own testimonies in the past, also frustrated some Congress members.
He said that Chew had been one of the few people to unite the committee and reminded him much of Mark Zuckerberg. He said when he came here, I told my staff, ‘He reminds me of Fred Astaire — a good dancer with words.’ And you are doing the same today. A lot of your answers were a bit nebulous and they’re not yes or no.”
Chew spent the last week in near-daily, multi-hour preparation sessions for Thursday’s appearance. TikTok personnel had worked to sharpen and polish Chew’s presentation during these mock sessions. They have played the roles of lawmakers with various questioning styles, peppering Chew with practice queries and scenarios to ready him for hours of relentless interrogation.
In his testimony, Chew attempted to ease the longstanding concerns about the app and called the fears of Chinese government access to TikTok’s user data “hypothetical.”
He said he thought a lot of the risks pointed out were hypothetical and theoretical. Chew said. He had not seen any evidence and was eagerly awaiting discussions where they could talk about evidence and address the raised concerns.
