TikTok CEO faces tough questions from Congress about Chinese influence

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee, in Washington

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -TikTok’s chief executive faced tough questions on Thursday from lawmakers who are convinced the Chinese-owned short video app should be barred for being a potential national security threat to the United States.

CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before Congress capped a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value and supports free speech.

TikTok, which has more than 150 million Americans users, has faced sharp accusations that its U.S. user data would be shared with the Chinese government and that it fails to adequately protect children from harm.

TikTok has said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name “Project Texas” that currently has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and is contracted with Oracle to store TikTok’s U.S. user data. It also says it rigorously screens content that could harm children.

FILE PHOTO: TikTok head office in United States

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee hearing will be chaired by Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican who said she is unconvinced by TikTok’s security commitments.

She kicked off the hearing by saying, “TikTok collects nearly every data point imaginable – from people’s location to what they type and copy, who they talk to, to biometric data and more.

“We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values – values for freedom, human rights and innovation,” and added that the Chinese Communist Party “is able to use (TikTok) as a tool to manipulate America as a whole.”

Chew told reporters ahead of the hearing that “there are many misconceptions about our company, and I’m very proud to come here and represent them and normal users here in this country.”

Some political experts say a TikTok ban could be damaging to Democrats who have used the platform to reach younger voters. Three House Democrats rallied with TikTok creators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in opposition to a ban.

“Why the hysteria and the panic and the targeting of TikTok?” asked Representative Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat from New York, at a news conference on Wednesday. “Let’s do the right thing here – comprehensive social media reform as it relates to privacy and security.”

Still, far more U.S. lawmakers want TikTok banned. TikTok last week said President Joe Biden’s administration demanded its Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a potential ban.

China’s Ministry of Commerce at a briefing on Thursday said that “forcing the sale of TikTok will seriously damage the confidence of investors from all over the world, including China, to invest in the United States. If the news is true, China will firmly oppose it.”

“Restricting access to a speech platform that is used by millions of Americans every day would set a dangerous precedent for regulating our digital public sphere more broadly,” said Jameel Jaffer, Knight First Amendment Institute executive director at Columbia University.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner on Wednesday said two additional senators backed his bipartisan legislation with Republican John Thune to give the Biden administration new powers to ban TikTok – raising the total to 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Rami Ayyub and Chris Sanders; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Mark Porter)