TikTok CEO Shou Chew is preparing to tell lawmakers that there are many “misconceptions” about the app and that banning it will hurt the US economy. He also plans to tell members of Congress that concerns about parent company ByteDance and its ties to China are unfounded.
“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew says in written comments released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee ahead of Thursday’s meeting. audience on Tik Tok. The hearing, which will mark Chew’s first appearance in Congress, comes at a time when the stakes couldn’t be higher for the company.
US officials recently told the company that TikTok could be banned in the US if ByteDance doesn’t get rid of the company. And members of both parties have supported bills that would empower President Joe Biden and others in his administration to ban the app.
Much of Chew’s written testimony is similar to arguments TikTok has been making for years. It details the app’s security features, particularly those aimed at teens, as well as Project Texas, TikTok’s multi-billion dollar effort to lock down US user data. “Earlier this month, we began the process deletion of protected US user historical data stored on non-Oracle servers; we expect this process to be complete by the end of this year,” Chew writes. “Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or force access to it.”
Chew’s written testimony also addresses revelations that four former ByteDance employees used TikTok to access the data of American journalists. The incident, which further fueled lawmakers’ concerns about TikTok, reportedly prompted a Justice Department investigation into the company. “I condemn this misconduct in the strongest possible terms,” Chew wrote, noting that the company is conducting an investigation with a third-party law firm.
But most notable are Chew’s comments about China. He calls allegations that TikTok is “indebted to the Chinese government” are “emphatically false” and describes ByteDance as a “global company” that was “founded by Chinese entrepreneurs.”
Despite those assurances, Chew is likely to be questioned in depth by lawmakers about TikTok’s ties to ByteDance and China, and whether the company can be trusted to protect American users. In a previous hearing, when lawmakers heard from TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas, they were frustrated by her insistence that ByteDance was not a Chinese company and pressured her on TikTok employees in China. How Chew answers similar questions could directly affect the future of TikTok in the United States.
