TikTok CEO

US lawmakers are set to grill TikTok's chief executive on Thursday, in a wide-ranging hearing that could not come at a more consequential moment for the ...

His written testimony also outlines TikTok’s moves to keep users safe with content moderation, highlighting that the company spent $1 billion in 2021 on trust and safety and reflecting TikTok’s largest US labor expense. TikTok was the top downloaded app in the United States in 2021 and 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. His overarching message: TikTok has become essential to American culture, and to the creators and small business owners who now rely on the app for their livelihoods. TikTok flew out some of the creators, the company confirmed to CNN. Chew, who is from Singapore, will testify on “TikTok’s consumer privacy and data security practices, the platforms’ impact on kids, and its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party,” according to a statement last week from committee. [perceived national security](http://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/tech/tiktok-national-security-concerns/index.html) concerns because of its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance.

Lawmakers press TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over data security, misinformation and other issues.

“I'm not convinced that the benefits outweigh the threats it poses to Americans in its current form.” Jamaal Bowman, D-NY, and Rep. “We will firewall protect the U.S. There is no evidence that TikTok has shared U.S. Rep. The China-based app, which counts more than 150 million U.S.

Shou Zi Chew's testimony did not seem to quell many concerns that lawmakers had about its connections to China or the adequacy of its risk mitigation plan.

Toward the end of the hearing, Chew expressed that his testimony was attempting to do something almost impossible. A key question for members of the committee seemed to be whether TikTok could uphold American values while being a subsidiary of a Chinese company. Chew denied that TikTok shares data with the Chinese Communist Party. data, its failure to remove some dangerous or harmful posts and whether the company has interacted or aligned itself with the Chinese Communist Party. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., likened the focus on TikTok to a "red scare" over China, but many of his Democratic colleagues on Thursday seemed deeply concerned about security risks stemming from TikTok's Chinese ownership. [allies on Capitol Hill](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/22/house-democrat-jamaal-bowman-leads-push-against-a-tiktok-ban.html), lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee did not display a similar level of sympathy. But Chew's testimony did not quell many concerns that lawmakers had about its ties to China or the adequacy of its risk-mitigation plan, Project Texas. Chew began his opening remarks by sharing details of his background and the countries to which he's been connected. Or, the government could find other ways to try to ban the app. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Chew found little reprieve during the questioning from either side of the aisle on Thursday. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., speaking to the TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, a couple hours into a marathon hearing about the potential threat to U.S.

TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, was repeatedly hammered in the ongoing hearing where no lawmaker offered any support.

and continue to be under the aegis of the Communist Party." He added: "It is our commitment to this committee and all our users that we will keep (TikTok) free from any manipulation by any government." If the news is true, China will firmly oppose it.” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said on Twitter the "TikTok CEO testimony so far we would characterize as a 'mini disaster' for this key moment for TikTok. That's not enough for the parents of America," DeGette said. TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, was repeatedly hammered in the ongoing hearing where no lawmaker offered any support.

U.S. lawmakers on Thursday pressed Shou Zi Chew over data security and harmful content, responding skeptically during a tense committee hearing to his ...

user data, the Chinese government can still have significant influence over its parent company and ask it to turn over data through its national security laws. user data to servers owned and maintained by the software giant Oracle. Dan Crenshaw noted that regardless of what the company does to assure lawmakers it will protect U.S. Chew told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that TikTok prioritizes the safety of its young users and denied it’s a national security risk. Emile El Nems, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said a ban would benefit TikTok rivals YouTube, Instagram and Snap, “likely resulting in higher revenue share of the total advertising wallet.” He said the company has about 40,000 moderators that track harmful content and an algorithm that flags material. Kat Cammack played a TikTok video showing a shooting gun with a caption that included the House committee, with the exact date before it was formally announced. social media companies to address the very concerns for which TikTok was being criticized. Chew spent most of the hearing attempting to push back assertions that TikTok, or its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, are tools of the Chinese government. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “everyone was watching” Thursday’s TikTok hearing at the White House. The rare public appearance by the 40-year-old Singapore native comes at a crucial time for the company. WASHINGTON (AP) — A nearly six-hour grilling of TikTok’s CEO by lawmakers brought the platform’s 150 million U.S.

CEO Shou Zi Chew struggled to convince skeptical lawmakers that the app protects user data as momentum builds for banning the app over national security ...

[new CBS News poll](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-opinion-poll-2023-03-22/) found that most Americans say that TikTok's ties to China pose a security risk, and those who do would like to see the video-sharing app banned in the U.S. [several bills](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-ban-democrats-china-challenge/) that would empower the administration to ban TikTok nationwide. The chief executive told the panel that TikTok is building "what amounts to a firewall that seals off protected U.S. user data from unauthorized foreign access," including the establishment of a new corporate entity to oversee U.S. Neal Dunn of Florida about a report by Forbes in 2022 that revealed a group of ByteDance employees in Beijing had planned to "monitor the personal location of some specific American citizens." Data Security is incorporated in the U.S. The Justice Department is said to be [investigating](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-bytedance-justice-department-investigation-spying/) ByteDance for possible spying on U.S. Some of that old data is still held in servers in Virginia and Singapore that could be accessed by engineers in China, according to Chew. "You damn well know that you cannot protect the data and security of this committee or the 150 million users of your app because it is an extension of the CCP," Cammack told Chew. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the committee's chair, said they "do not trust that TikTok will ever embrace American values." [Shou Zi Chew](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-ceo-shou-zi-chew/) struggled to reassure lawmakers that the massively popular social video app doesn't pose a risk to its 150 million users nor share user data with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Members of both parties spent hours denouncing TikTok's data collection practices and painting it as a tool used by the Chinese government to track and spy on Americans.

The TikTok CEO, a former Goldman Sachs banker and Harvard grad, is on the hot seat as lawmakers consider banning the app.

Chew told the House panel that TikTok is building "what amounts to a firewall that seals off protected U.S. data and potential manipulation of the TikTok U.S. "Only vetted personnel operating in a new company, called TikTok U.S. user data from unauthorized foreign access," including the establishment of a new corporate entity to oversee the handling of U.S. National security experts have warned that TikTok, which has 150 million American users, could be used to spy on Americans or as a propaganda tool by the Chinese government. He was considered a good fit for TikTok because of his background in investment banking and his time at Facebook and DST Global, said Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities. Most Americans likely first heard of Chew when he released a video this week speaking directly to TikTok's U.S. ByteDance said in a statement that it "strongly condemned" the actions of those involved and they were no longer employed by the company. ecosystem." However, TikTok's status as a Chinese-owned company makes some national-security experts nervous. Chew reports to ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo. Chew, born in January 1983 in Singapore, completed mandatory military service for the Singaporean government as a teenager.

US lawmakers grilled the CEO of TikTok as the social media giant faces increasing pressure from officials in Washington.

The company sent dozens of popular TikTokers to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby lawmakers to preserve the platform. In a report released this month, the cybersecurity company Feroot said so-called tracking pixels from ByteDance, which collect user information, were found on 30 US state websites. To avoid a ban, TikTok has been trying to sell officials on a $1.5 billion plan, Project Texas, which routes all US user data to Oracle. As of October, all new US user data was being stored inside the country. Chew told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that TikTok prioritises the safety of its young users and denied it’s a national security risk. Asked by Ken Buck, a Republican of Colorado, if the platform is a security threat to the United States, Blinken said: “I believe it is.”

Lawmakers interrogated Shou Chew over the video app's ties to the Chinese government in a hearing that suggests the company's problems are far from over.

[expanding government insurance](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/business/dealbook/yellen-powell-bank-rules.html) to all U.S. (WSJ) (FT) (The Hollywood Reporter) (NYT) [is significantly higher](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/world/europe/ukraine-kherson-world-bank-rebuild.html) than the $349 billion the institution forecast in September. and South Korea (and under investigation in Singapore) for the $40 billion collapse of his stablecoin company last year, And Charles Schwab says it could survive even [if it lost most of its bank deposits](https://www.wsj.com/articles/charles-schwab-says-it-could-ride-out-a-deposit-flight-a8b2a626). [mockery](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tiktokers-are-mocking-the-us-congressional-hearing-against-tiktok-derogatorily-calling-lawmakers-boomers-who-are-embarrassing-them-in-front-of-the-world/ar-AA190jHh) and disbelief at the lawmakers’ tech knowledge. Senators want the [former C.E.O.s of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/23/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-senators-urge-former-ceo-to-testify.html)to testify before Congress. (Investors had taken heart from reports that the Treasury Department [was studying just that](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-21/us-studies-ways-to-guarantee-all-bank-deposits-if-crisis-expands).) [five hours](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/technology/tiktok-hearing-congress-china.html) in Congress on Thursday about his company’s ties to China, and his testimony did little to suggest the video platform’s problems are over.

No one expected meaningful discourse at the House hearing on TikTok. At least we got entertainment.

[lose $3 billion](https://fortune.com/2023/03/24/ford-motors-projects-loss-electric-vehicles-tesla/) this year, a cost, it says, of refounding the company. And, as my colleague [David Meyer has written](https://fortune.com/2023/03/02/when-it-comes-to-the-tiktok-ban-debate-hypocrisy-abounds/), U.S. Chinese law [allows the government to seek inside information](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/23/tiktok-ceo-china-based-bytedance-employees-can-still-access-some-us-data.html) from companies based there in instances when it believes there are national security issues—a scenario that the U.S. users](https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-tell-congress-it-has-150-million-monthly-active-us-users-2023-03-20/)—and its connections to China’s authoritarian government. “At the same time, there’s a risk that plugins could increase safety challenges by taking harmful or unintended actions, increasing the capabilities of bad actors who would defraud, mislead, or abuse others,” OpenAI said in The threat is troubling for some who say these apps are a lifeline to connect to communities in the U.S. According to the report, which cites anonymous sources, Musk had grown concerned that OpenAI was falling behind Google and proposed that he take control of OpenAI to get things back on track. That could spell trouble not only for Chinese-owned apps like WeChat and CapCut but other apps that run outside of the U.S. But since the proposals give the U.S. [TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew](https://fortune.com/2023/03/22/tiktok-ceo-shou-zi-chew-debut-spotlight-congress-hearing-china-bytedance/) with questions about potentially harmful algorithms and data privacy. As Will Oremus of the Washington Post The ongoing spectacle of detangling TikTok from its Chinese owner, which now lies at a stalemate, has seen no meaningful progress.

After TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled by lawmakers on Thursday, the platform's users shared their support the way they know best — through thirsty fan ...

[a slap in the face](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/tiktok-ban-slap-face-young-democratic-voters-activists-warn-rcna76142)" to young voters. [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@tiktok/video/7214065189220601131) posted Friday morning, Chew thanked users for their support and reiterated the app's commitment to protecting the [150 million Americans](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/tiktok-now-150-million-active-users-us-ceo-tell-congress-rcna75607) that use the platform. "Love this app. The video had over 40,000 comments as of Friday morning, most of them positive. "It seems clear that much of America did not experience the hearing the same way many political insiders and reporters did," Oberwetter said in an email statement to NBC News. They paired the videos with captions praising his testimony.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified Thursday at a congressional hearing over concerns about user data collected by the popular video-sharing app and potential ...

Chew’s decision to emphasize TikTok’s reach in the U.S. After earning his MBA, he became a partner at venture capital firm DST Global, where he worked for five years and helped facilitate investment in the company that became ByteDance. Most Americans likely first heard of Chew when he released a video this week speaking directly to TikTok’s U.S. He graduated in 2006 from University College London and worked for two years at Goldman Sachs before moving to the U.S. Chew attempted to persuade lawmakers not to pursue a ban on the app or force Chinese parent company ByteDance to give up its ownership stake, testifying that TikTok prioritizes the safety of young users. He says the company plans to store all U.S.

TikTok's chief executive Shou Zi Chew appeared on Thursday at the US House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, where lawmakers questioned him about ...

I mean, president Donald Trump used Twitter to help facilitate an insurrection, an attack on the US Capitol by US citizens. In December, US President Joe Biden signed a bill to ban the app on government devices. "I think a lot of risks that are pointed out are hypothetical and theoretical risks," Chew said at the hearing. "We're headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we have 7,000 employees in the US today," Chew said. "TikTok has really been a game-changer for me. I am eagerly awaiting discussions where we can talk about evidence and then we can address the concerns that are being raised." It's allowed me to reach new audiences." Editor's note: For more than five hours at a Congress hearing on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled by US lawmakers over alleged data security and harmful content concerns of the app. "You can ban TikTok, but there are still data brokers who sell our data to other countries. … So let's not have a dishonest conversation. The company survived a ban attempt by former president Donald Trump. TikTok has become extremely popular in the United States, especially among young people.

This week, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in front of Congress to address lawmakers' concerns about the app's Chinese ownership.

[not popular](https://www.businessinsider.com/jamaal-bowman-press-conference-tiktok-ban-xenophobic-red-scare-2023-3) with the app’s users, and a handful of them [arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday](https://twitter.com/UrsulaPerano/status/1638627522844983296?s=20) to protest. At one point, Georgia representative [Earl “Buddy” Carter](https://www.tiktok.com/@gbp97/video/7213775012883434795?_r=1&_t=8atY9JYvN6Y) asked Chew if phone cameras track users’ pupil dilations, only to appear profoundly confused by the answer. Another representative, North Carolina’s [Richard Hudson](https://www.tiktok.com/@hoolie_r/video/7213797620110626090?_r=1&_t=8atYA8kgQiE), seemed not to have a full grasp on how internet connection works, asking, “Does TikTok access the home Wi-Fi network?” During his [five-hour testimony](https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-hearing-congress-interrupting-grilling-ceo-ban-sale-2023-3), he vowed that the app prioritizes the safety of young users and outlined TikTok’s plan to move U.S. [TikTok](https://www.thecut.com/2023/03/tiktok-bans-what-to-know.html) CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in front of Congress to address lawmakers’ concerns about the app’s Chinese ownership. Because TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China and potentially subject to data audits from the Chinese government, the [Biden administration](https://www.businessinsider.com/banning-tiktok-bipartisan-issue-biden-trump-sale-last-resort-2023-3?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&_gl=1*z8z54c*_ga*MTcyOTUwODUyMS4xNjczMzgzOTAx*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY3OTY3NTQ5Mi45LjEuMTY3OTY3NzY0MC42MC4wLjA.) wants to either force a sale to an American company or ban TikTok nationwide.