The CEO of Tiktok Shou Zi Chew faced a barbecue on Thursday, as it appeared before the Energy and Trade Committee in the House of Representatives to address legislators’ concerns about the application of video post, which includes 150 million active users in the United States. It is particularly concerned about the company -based parent company committee, Bytedance, and its suspected relations with the Chinese government.
“We do not trust Tiktok, it will embrace American values, the values of freedom, human rights and innovation,” Cathy McMoris Rodgers, Republican from Washington, He said In its opening statement. “You have chosen Tiktok again and again the path to more control, more monitoring, and more manipulation. Your platform must be banned.”
There is currently Three bills In Congress that can affect American access to Tiktok; Two will legislate an explicit embargo of the platform, while the other will give the government the authority to ban any technologies that are the risk of national security. Biden Administration It is said A student selling tiktok, to threaten A complete ban on the application if the China -based company fails to comply. On Thursday, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce He said The government opposes forced sale.
During a five -hour hearing, the newly -born Singapore Singapore was chewed, that there was no evidence that the Chinese government was reaching the data of the Tiktok user. He said that countries That was banned The application did on government agencies based on “virtual and theoretical risks”. Last month, Both the United States and Canada Exports orders prohibiting the use of Tiktok on mobile devices issued by the government.
“Let me mention this unambiguously: crying is not the agent of China or any other country,” Chew announced to him Written statement.
However, legislators from both sides of the corridor expressed his doubts about this claim, and thanked many members of the exciting committee, CEO of Tiktok for the inspiration of the two parties. “I have united Republicans and Democrats, and if only for one day, we are actually unified because we have dangerous fears,” He said Representative August Pfluger, Republican from Texas.
Luminous answer when interrogating it about data privacy Texas projectThe continuous process of the platform to transfer information about its American users to the US -based server. Tiktok CEO said that none of the employees in China will be able to access American user data as soon as the project is completed, but the committee members asked whether this internal protection wall will remove their security concerns.
“What you say about Project Texas only does not pass the scent test,” He said Representative Angie Craig, Democrat from Minnesota. “My voter is concerned that Tiktok and the Communist Party of China control their data and see our weaknesses … … What you do in Texas is good and good, but it is not enough to be convinced that our privacy is not in danger.”
As buzzfeed news exclusively I mentioned Last year, the BYTEDANCE employees in China arrived in the data of Tiktok user in the United States of the United States on several occasions between September 2021 and January 2022. In December, Betitans said in A. statement An internal investigation revealed that the data of the Buzzfeed News Corporation who broke the story – and many other journalists covering Tiktok – have been accessed without authorization by the bytedance employees who were then separated.
When Representative Neil Dan, a Republican of Florida, was asked during the session if Bouetans had spied on American citizens, chewed Respond“I don’t think” spying “is the correct way to describe it.”