Skeptical lawmakers grill Tiktok CEO on app’s security

WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers grilled the CEO of Tiktok over data security and harmful content Thursday, responding skeptically during a tense committee hearing to his assurances that the hugely popular video-sharing app prioritizes user safety and should not be banned.

Shou Zi Chew’s testimony came at a crucial time for the company, which has acquired 150 million American users but is under increasing pressure from U.S. officials. Tiktok and its parent company Bytedance have been swept up in a wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington over trade and technology.

In a rare bipartisan effort to reign in the power of a major social media platform, Republicans and Democrats pressed Chew on a host of topics, ranging from Tiktok’s content moderation practices, how the company plans to secure American data from Beijing and its spying on journalists.

“Mr. Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat Tiktok poses to our national and personal security,” Committee Chair Cathy Mcmorris Rodgers, a Republican, said in her opening statement. “Tiktok has repeatedly chosen a path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation.”

Chew, a 40-year-old Singapore native, told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that Tiktok prioritizes the safety of its young users and denied allegations that it’s a national security risk.

He reiterated the company’s plan to protect U.S. user data by storing all such information on servers maintained and owned by the software giant Oracle.

“Let me state this unequivocally: Bytedance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said.

Tiktok has been dogged by claims that its Chinese ownership means user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government or that it could be used to promote narratives favorable to the country’s Communist leaders.

In 2019, the Guardian reported that Tiktok was instructing its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square and other images unfavorable to the Chinese government. The platform says it has since changed its moderation practices.

Bytedance admitted in December that it fired four employees last summer who accessed data on two journalists, as well as other people connected to them, while attempting to track down the source of a leaked report about the company.

For its part, Tiktok has been trying to distance itself from its Chinese origins, saying that 60% percent of its parent company Bytedance is owned by global institutional investors such as Carlyle Group. Bytedance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in Beijing in 2012. China has said it would oppose any U.S. attempts to force Bytedance to sell the app.

Chew pushed back against the idea that Tiktok’s ownership was an issue in itself.

“Trust is about actions we take,” he said. “Ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns.”