Video collages and thirsty comments dedicated to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew have started popping up on the platform after the CEO’s comments. testimony before congress yesterday, when he spent five hours defending the platform in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
On TikTok, fan edits dedicated to the 40-year-old have declared him a “TikTok dad” and “the best CEO of our generation.”
Chew was in the dock answering questions from lawmakers about the future of the popular video-sharing app, which currently has more than 150 million monthly users in the United States alone.
Both Democratic and Republican politicians have raised concerns about the app’s China-based parent company and what it means for user safety, data privacy and national security. Some legislators have called that the platform be banned in the US over concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, may or wants to share US user data with the Chinese government. In his testimony, Chew said there was no evidence that the Chinese government had ever accessed user data.
“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said at the written statement who began his testimony.
There are currently three bills in Congress that could affect American access to TikTok. Two would legislate an outright ban on the platform, while the other would give the government the power to ban any technology deemed a national security risk.
Yesterday’s hearing put the TikTok CEO in the spotlight as he claimed that banning the app would be detrimental to millions of American companies and that a new subsidiary named texas project would provide a significant solution that would allow the app to remain active in the US.
While lawmakers appeared unconvinced, Chew’s defense of the app, including his praise for sub-communities within the app such as “BookTok,” a community for people to discuss reading recommendations, seemed to strike a chord with those who have found inspiration on the platform. .
Online, a growing group of creators seemed impressed by Chew’s performance despite the uptight nature of the audience, and have shown their admiration in the most organic way: by creating fan edits and memes.
