TikTok CEO Refuses To Say Whether Officials At Chinese Parent Company Helped Him Prepare For Hearing

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew neglected to provide a clear answer on whether individuals associated with ByteDance, the social media platform’s Chinese parent company, helped him prepare for a Thursday morning hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Democrats and Republicans have expressed concern over claims that members of the Chinese Communist Party have access to users information on TikTok. Chew was questioned by politicians from both parties about the connections between TikTok and ByteDance as well as the degree to which Chinese officials continue to have power and influence over both organizations.

Rep. Michael Burgess( R – TX ) questioned Chew about whether any ByteDance employees directly provided” insight, help, or learning” for his evidence. Chew replied,” My app is full of well wishes ,” but added that he and his party were in Washington, D.C., getting ready for the audience.

Can you vouch for the fact that nobody at ByteDance assisted you in getting ready for tomorrow’s hear? Burgess pushed. ” Like I said, Congressman, this is a high-profile hearing ,” Chew retorted. ” Many people from all over the world sent me well wishes and uninvited assistance, but my team and I prepared for this hearing in Washington, D.C.”

Burgess enquired as to whether TikTok’s be equally represent ByteDance. Yes, I think now, Chew acknowledged.

If Chinese leaders” had a role” in preparing TikTok’s evidence for Congresspic, the CEO won’t mention. IdUTTPYqn1 on twitter.com

— March 23, 2023, Daily Wire(@ realDailyWire )

Others have asked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States( CFIUS ), a board that assesses the national security implications of international investments, to compel the divestiture of ByteDance. Some officials have called for an outright ban on TikTok. The CFIUS has reportedly rejected TikTok’s current proposal, Project Texas, which called for spending$ 1.5 billion to protect user data and prevent Chinese officials from having access to it.

Following reports that ByteDance employees in China used the system to track the whereabouts of particular National users, President Joe Biden and many think officials have banned TikTok from public devices due to data security and surveillance concerns.

Even though Chew acknowledged that the company has Chinese owners, he stated in his determined to to the House Energy and Commerce Committee that” ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.” According to him, a change in ownership may not result in any new limitations on information flows or access, so” withdrawal does not address the fundamental problems that I have heard.” ” This is not a matter of nationality ,” she said.

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In her opening remarks, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers( R-WA ), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, stated that ByteDance and other social media companies must monitor Chinese law. TikTok is a serious challenge of foreign influence in American life, she said,” from the data it collects to the article it controls.” It has been compared to giving the Soviet Union the ability to make Saturday morning pictures during the Cold War, but much more potent and serious.

Chew has generally praised TikTok’s enormous popularity in the US as he tries to talk of out of punishing the business. The enormous size of the system, according to Rogers, just” emphasizes the intensity for Congress to act.”