Will never share US user data with China: TikTok CEO

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, testifying before the US Congress for the first time, has said that the short-form video-making platform will never share US user data with China. However, Congress seems more determined to ban TikTok than ever.

Chew, who appeared before dozens of members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Thursday, offered assurances that the company would improve privacy and avoid “unauthorized foreign access” to US user data, TechCrunch reported.

“I understand there are concerns based on inaccurate beliefs that TikTok’s corporate structure is doing it for the Chinese government or that it is sharing information about US users with the Chinese government,” Chew said.

“This is not true,” he told committee members.

“Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew stressed.

In an earlier video, Chew had warned the 150 million American TikTok community about the ban.

“Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok,” Chew said. “Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”

During the hearing, committee chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Americans deserve to know the extent to which their privacy is at risk and “their data is being manipulated by ByteDance-owned TikTok’s relationship with China.”

“What’s worse, we know that Big Tech companies like TikTok are using malicious algorithms to exploit children for profit and expose them to dangerous content online,” Rodgers told Chew.

The committee also pressed Chew about the measures TikTok is taking to protect children on the app.

Joe Biden’s administration has reportedly demanded that TikTok’s owner, China’s ByteDance, sell its stake in the short video-making app or face a possible ban.

A group of 12 US senators has unveiled a new bill, which now has the backing of the White House, that could give President Biden the authority to ban TikTok nationwide.

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