TikTok’s boss might be grilled on Capitol Hill as a rising variety of US legal professionals name for the favored Chinese-owned app to be banned over nationwide safety issues.
CEO Shou Zi Chew will face questions from members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee about TikTok’s “consumer privacy and data security practices, the platforms’ impact on kids, and their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party,” in accordance with a launch Monday.
The March 23 listening to will mark the primary time Chew has testified on Capitol Hill.
“ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data,” committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) stated in a press release.
“Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security, as well as what actions TikTok is taking to keep our kids safe from online and offline harms,” Rodgers added.
TikTok confirmed that Chew would testify, however fired again at Rodgers’ characterization of his enterprise. The firm has lengthy denied that ByteDance workers can entry US information, regardless of a number of reviews on the contrary.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify earlier than a House panel.Bloomberg through Getty Images
“There is no truth to Rep. McMorris Rodgers’ claim that TikTok has made US user data available to the Chinese Communist Party,” the corporate stated in a press release. “The Chinese Communist Party has neither direct nor indirect control of ByteDance or TikTok.”
“We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to address concerns about US national security before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,” the corporate added.
TikTok has confronted intense bipartisan scrutiny over its father or mother firm ByteDance’s ties to Beijing and fears that the Chinese authorities has entry to the non-public information of US customers. Critics have additionally raised issues concerning the app’s affect on the psychological well being of younger customers.
Shou Zi Chew has been TikTok’s CEO since 2021.Bloomberg through Getty Images
TikTok is among the most widely-used apps on the earth, with greater than 100 million customers within the US alone.
Earlier this month, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), an outspoken critic of Big Tech corporations, stated he deliberate to introduce a invoice to ban TikTok inside the US.
The senator described the app as “China’s backdoor into Americans’ lives” and stated it “threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health.”
In December, US legal professionals handed a bipartisan spending invoice that included a provision banning the downloading and use of TikTok on government-owned units. The clause included restricted exceptions for regulation enforcement, nationwide safety or analysis functions.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican, has additionally referred to as for a ban on TikTok, although the company lacks regulatory oversight over the app.
Shou Zi Chew and Vivian Kao attend The 2022 Met Gala.Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
In November, Carr argued that TikTok wouldn’t have the ability to adequately handle issues that Beijing may improperly entry the info of US-based TikTok customers.
TikTok has been in negotiations for years with the Council on Foreign Investment within the US (CFIUS), an interagency committee that critiques international funding within the nation, on a possible decision that may permit it to keep away from an outright ban.
With Post wires
