TikTok CEO to testify before US Congress in March amid increased scrutiny over security concerns

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before the US Energy and Trade Commission in March, as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

Chew will testify before the committee on March 23, which will be his first appearance before the congressional committee, Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chairman of the committee, said in a statement today. Monday.

The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill to block the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns.

“Own ByteDance TikTok intentionally gave the Chinese Communist Party the ability to access US users’ data,” McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know these actions affect privacy and how secure their data.

TikTok confirmed on Monday Chew will testify.

“We welcome the opportunity to speak clearly about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to address US national security concerns before the House Energy and Commerce Committees. ,” said a company spokesman, adding that the company hopes “by sharing the details of our comprehensive plans with the entire committee, Congress can have a a more cautious approach to current affairs.”

The company also said “the claim by Congressman McMorris Rodgers that TikTok has provided US user data to the Chinese Communist Party is untrue. The Chinese Communist Party has no direct control or indirectly to ByteDance or TikTok.”

McMorris Rodgers and other Republican lawmakers have requested more information from TikTok. They want to know its impact on young people amid concerns about harmful content, and they want more insight into the potential for sexual exploitation of minors on the platform, the statement said. said.

For three years, TikTok – which has more than 100 million users in the US – has sought to assure Washington that the personal data of US citizens cannot be accessed and its content cannot be hacked by the Chinese Communist Party. China or anyone else under Beijing’s influence.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) of the US government, a powerful national security agency, in 2020 ordered ByteDance divest TikTok over concerns US user data could be passed on to the Chinese government.

CFIUS and TikTok have been negotiating for more than two years to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of TikTok users in the United States. The White House on Friday declined to comment on whether it supported the legislature’s ban on TikTok or the state of the negotiations.

© Thomson Reuters 2023