Top TikTok Exec Says Congressional Hearing ‘Felt Rooted In Xenophobia’

A prominent TikTok executive accused members of” nativism” during a House Energy and Commerce committee hearing on the company.

According to TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas, the reading” felt rooted in racism.” In a speech of its own, TikTok already shattered the hearing. The agency’s response came following a contentious receiving between CEO Shou Zi Chew in which customers from both parties denounced the Chinese-owned social media app for targeting kids and infringing on Americans’ data protection.

Pappas wrote on Twitter,” We’re committed to offering a safe, secure platform, that fosters an inclusive place for our amazing, diverse communities to call home.” ” It’s a pity the conversation we had today was based on racism. We want to express our gratitude to our staff for working hard to safeguard our platform and community.

Additionally, TikTok itself criticized the council reading, claiming that instead of acknowledging the steps the game has taken to increase security, members were engaged in political posturing. Unfortunately, the day was dominated by political grandstanding that failed to acknowledge real solutions already underway through Project Texas or address industry-wide issues of youth safety.” Our CEO, @ ShouChew, came prepared to answer questions from Congress ,” according to TikTok Comms.

“Also not mentioned today by members of the @HouseCommerce Committee: the livelihoods of the 5 million businesses on TikTok or the First Amendment implications of banning a platform loved by 150 million Americans,” the company added.

Pappas’ remarks appeared to be the result of a conversation between Chew and Rep. Debbie Lesko( R – AZ ), in which the latter asked him to reject the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims. Chew repeatedly dodged the question, choosing instead to discuss the app’s articles, but Lesko frequently posed the query to him.

Do you concur that Uyghurs have been victimized by the Chinese public? Lesko enquired.

Chew said,” If you use our game and open it, you will see our customers who provide all kinds of articles.”

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Before being cut off once more, Chew said,” Well, it’s deeply troubling to talk about all accounts of human right abuse, and my purpose here is to explain what our system does.”

Lesko interrupted,” I think you’re being really ambiguous.” It’s a fairly simple suggestion. She now rephrased her dilemma.

Chew retorted,” Congressman, I’m below to explain TikTok and what we do as a system.” And as a system, we give our owners the freedom to voice their opinions on this and any other topic that is important to them.

However, commenters who responded to Pappas’ article noted that Chew’s denial of the question was really a sign that the CCP might be trying to compromise TikTok.

In response to Pappas, security analyst James Gillespie wrote,” One of TikTok’s base claims is that it is independent of its Chinese family, ByteDance.” Therefore, it makes sense for Congress to inquire about the CEO’s condemnation of the Uyghur murder because, if he doesn’t, that undoubtedly reveals his freedom to offend Beijing.

According to journalist Gray Connolly, the Chinese communist state apparatus has mastered the Western idiocies and its media classes, including pronouns, safetyism,” different communities ,”” xenophobia ,” and” a masterclass in understanding and exploiting the West’s neuroses.”

According to TikTok’s CEO, who on several occasions refused to denounce concentration camps housing a religious majority, the reading today” felt rooted in journalist ,” columnist Zaid Jilani tweeted.

It’s interesting to system” calling real concerns about data protection and content filtering racist ,” said CNBC writer Alex Kantrowitz.