TikTok CEO to Face Questioning from U.S. Congress Regarding Privacy and Security Issues.
The CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, is scheduled to appear before the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee in March. The committee has raised concerns about the privacy and data security of the app’s American users, as well as its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.
The committee’s chair, Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, has accused TikTok of allowing the Chinese Communist Party access to American user data. TikTok has denied these claims and welcomes the opportunity to “set the record straight” before the committee.
In addition to the Energy and Commerce Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is also planning to vote on a bill next month that would ban the use of TikTok in the United States due to national security concerns.
Republican lawmakers have also sought further information from TikTok on issues such as the app’s impact on young people and concerns about harmful content and sexual exploitation of minors.
TikTok has been trying to assure the U.S. government for the past three years that American citizens’ personal data is safe and that its content cannot be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party or anyone under its influence. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok in 2020 due to fears of Chinese government access to U.S. user data. CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for over two years to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of TikTok’s American users.
The White House has not commented on the status of these talks or whether it would support a legislative ban on TikTok.