TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced a bipartisan baptism of fiery scrutiny on Thursday

at a hearing

the House Energy and Commerce Committee,

hero

as the platform comes under more scrutiny from lawmakers and the Biden administration.

the questions

topics covered ranging from f

Rom content removal bias against black creators

other

misinformation on the platforms affects the mental health of young people, who make up the majority of TikToks users. While many of these

issues

are not unique to TikTok,

the Chinese-owned parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance

and his ties to the Chinese government

make it unique among the major social media platforms popular with Americans

.

The five-hour adversarial hearing featured a rare example of bipartisan cooperation, both between Democrats and Republicans

raised

concerns about national security

about

the possibility of Chinese government officials accessing

US

user data. Lawmakers referred to a 2017

Chinese

law that obliges companies

over there

to aid the gathering of state intelligence.

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To the American people watching today, hear this: TikTok is a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you, manipulate what you see and exploit [it] for generations to come, said President Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington State, in her opening address.

Her sentiments were supported by the 52-member committee’s leading Democrat, Frank Pallone

Jr

from New Jersey. While TikTok videos give people a new fun way to express their creativity and enjoy the videos of others, the platform also threatens the health, privacy and safety of the American people, he said. And I’m not convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks it poses to Americans in its current form.

In response, Chew, who is Singaporean, vigorously defended his company

and tried to keep them away

of the Chinese government. Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. It’s a private company, Chew said in his opening statement.

He added that addiction and data privacy concerns were an industry-wide concern. We believe that clear, transparent rules are needed that are broadly applicable to all technology companies. Ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns.

Chew also outlined Project Texas, the company’s proposal to use

Austin-based cloud computing company Oracle

to examine the code and make sure that

US

user data

is his

stored in the country and protected from access by foreign governments. This allays concerns some of you have shared with me that TikTok user data may fall under Chinese law, Chew told the committee.

But skepticism remains about the practical side of that proposal and whether it goes far enough.

Project Texas simply fails the smell test. My constituents are concerned about TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party checking their data and seeing our own vulnerabilities, Representative Angie Craig

a Democrat from Minnesota, (D-Minn.)

said.

The hearing came after it was reported that the Biden administration plans to force ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok or it will be banned in the United States. Ahead of the hearing, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese government intends to oppose the forced sale.

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If the news is true, China will resolutely oppose it, said Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Commerce. She added that the sale would seriously hurt investors from multiple countries, including China, and hurt confidence to invest in the United States.

Ahead of the hearing, a slew of TikTok creators roamed the halls of Congress as part of a public relations effort to urge lawmakers and the Biden administration not to ban the platform, which has 150 million users around the world. prohibit.

US

monthly.

Last month, the White House announced a ban on TikTok on all devices owned by federal agencies. The United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union have also banned TikTok from all government devices due to security concerns. In 2020, India banned the use of TikTok in the country.

A sobering moment

at the hearing when Florida Republican Gus Bilirakis Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) emphasized

the story of a teenager named Chase Nasca, who died by suicide

and whose tears

parents were present. Your company has destroyed their lives, he said.

The content on Chase’s “For You” page was not a window to discovery, as you boldly claimed in your testimony. Instead, his For You page was sadly a window to discover suicide, referring to the managed section of the app for users.

Earlier in the session

Representative Kat Cammack

a Florida Republican, (R-Fla.) showed a video of someone appearing to threaten Chairman Rodgers with a gun.

This video has been online for 41 days,

representative

Cammac said. Do you expect us to believe you are capable of maintaining the data, privacy and security of 150 million Americans when you can’t even protect the people in this space? I think that’s a blatant representation of how vulnerable people who use TikTok are.

After a pause, Chew said he had communicated with his team

to have the video

taken down.

The White House has already supported a bipartisan bill in the Senate that would change the

commerce commerce

secretary broad new powers, including to ban technology from unfavorable countries such as China and Russia.