TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew defended himself as best he could Thursday from Republican and Democratic U.S. congressmen who accuse the platform – threatened with a U.S. ban – of alleged ties to the Chinese government.
The 40-year-old Singaporean underwent unusually intense questioning by congressmen who fear that Beijing could use this subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance to spy, collect data and secretly defend Chinese Communist Party plans.
The Harvard-educated former banker tried in vain for hours to defuse an existential threat to TikTok. The app is trying to survive an ultimatum from the White House, which is demanding that ByteDance sell the app to avoid being banned in the United States.
In the House Energy and Commerce Committee session, congressmen gave Chew no respite, often denying him the chance to elaborate on his answers or to tout the site’s worldwide popularity among young people.
“ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government and is a private company,” Chew told the congressmen. “We believe that what is needed are clear and transparent rules that apply broadly to all technology companies – ownership is not the basis for addressing these concerns,” Chew added.
A ban would be unprecedented for a media company in the U.S. and would leave 150 million monthly users in the country, mostly young people, without access to it.
“TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path of more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Their platform should be banned,” said committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers at the start of the hearing.
The 150 million users in the country are Americans about whom the Chinese Communist Party “can gather confidential information and control what we ultimately see, hear and believe,” the Republican added.
At one point Chew was forced to acknowledge that some Americans’ personal data was still subject to Chinese law, but insisted that this will soon change.
The congressmen also confronted Chew with dire examples of young users promoting suicide or dangerous stunts that have led to deaths.
“Your technology is literally leading to death,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis as he pointed to a family that holds TikTok responsible for the death of their son in a train tragedy.
“It’s not the solution.”
Prior to the hearing, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would “strongly oppose” a forced sale, and stressed that any deal or spin-off of TikTok would require approval from Chinese authorities.
“Forcing the sale of TikTok (…) will seriously undermine the confidence of investors from various countries, including China, to invest in the United States,” added spokesman Shu Jueting.
TikTok is under the microscope of several laws, including a White House-backed bill that paves the way to ban the app.
“Mr. Chew, welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress. We may not always agree on how to get there, but we care about our national security, we care about our economy and we care about our children,” said Congressman Buddy Carter, a Republican.
On Wednesday about a dozen people rallied in front of Congress to express their opposition to the potential ban.
“Are there other platforms? Absolutely, I’m on them. But none of them have the reach of TikTok,” @countrylather2020 told his 70,000 followers in a video recorded after his arrival in Washington.
Free speech advocates are also protesting.
“Attacking TikTok and, by extension, Americans’ First Amendment protections, is not the right solution to the risks TikTok poses to Americans’ privacy and to U.S. national security,” reckoned Nadine Farid Johnson of PEN America, which defends free speech, protected by that amendment.
TikTok hopes to appease the authorities.
Chew promoted a plan the company developed, known as Project Texas, to satisfy national security concerns, under which U.S. data would be handled by a division run from the United States.
Members of Congress doubt its effectiveness and believe it does not prevent TikTok from being vulnerable to China.
“TikTok should be an American company with American values and end all ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” said Democrat Darren Soto.