TikTok CEO to Appear Before US Congress

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Facts

  • TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before the US Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23. The hearing comes amid concerns among US officials that TikTok shares American users’ data with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  • The committee’s chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) confirmed the testimony as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to vote on a bill that would ban TikTok in the US.
  • McMorris Rodgers said in a statement that “ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data.” She added that Americans deserve to know TikTok’s impact on their privacy.
  • TikTok says it never shared any data with the Chinese government and has proposed a plan to store its data on American users in separate US-based servers. Its plan would also grant the US oversight over its algorithms — specifically the US Dept. of the Treasury’s 'Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.'
  • TikTok has already spent $1.5B to revamp its US operations and argues that the oversight granted to the Treasury Dept.'s committee would ensure US user data would not be accessible to its Chinese parent company or the CCP.
  • On Feb. 27, a new law banning TikTok on federal government employees’ work devices is set to become official. Over a dozen states have issued similar bans for state government use, while some large US universities have banned TikTok from their WiFi networks.

Sources: CNN, Reuters, CNBC, FOX News, and Axios.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by House. TikTok is a dangerous platform that is an immense threat to both US national security and everyday privacy. The incredibly popular app is directly tied to the PRC and gives a foreign adversary alarming access to Americans' personal data. Banning TikTok is the only way to prevent China from potentially accessing and abusing Americans' data.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Techdirt. Efforts to ban TikTok are unserious performances that are divorced from reality or any recognition of how to protect US consumers. TikTok is one of a handful of extremely large apps that generate an endless supply of US user data, yet TikTok is the only dangerous one because it was created in China. Instead of a publicity stunt, lawmakers should focus on meaningful ways to prevent and regulate the overcollection of data by big tech companies.