The TikTok app has never shared US data with the Chinese government: CEO Shou Zi Chew
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tells lawmakers that the Chinese-owned short video app, which has more than 150 million American users, has never and will never share US users’ data with the Chinese government because of growing US national security concerns.
“TikTok has never shared or received a request to share US user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request, if ever made,” Chew testified Thursday, according to written testimony released Tuesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
He added that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is not owned or controlled by any government or government entity. “Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew told the committee.
TikTok’s critics fear the app could pass on its US user data to the Chinese government, prompting increasing calls from US lawmakers to ban the app. Last week, TikTok said the Biden administration demanded that its Chinese owners divest their stake in the app or it could face a US ban.
“Bannings are only suitable when there are no alternatives. But we have an option,” Chew said.
TikTok has said that it has spent more than 1.5 billion dollars on so-called harsh data security measures under the name “Project Texas”.
Chew said that once the process is complete, “all protected US information will be protected by US law and under the control of a US-led security team. Under this structure, the Chinese government will have no way to access it or force it.”
The company said it began removing protected data of US users from data centers in Virginia and Singapore this month after it began routing new US data to the Oracle Cloud last year. Chew’s testimony said it expects that process to be completed later this year.
According to Chew’s testimony, 60 percent of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors including Blackrock, General Atlantic and Sequoia, about 20 percent by the company’s founders and about 20 percent by its employees, “including thousands of Americans.”
TikTok said on Monday that more than 150 million people in the United States use TikTok every month, after 100 million Americans used the app in 2020. According to Chew’s testimony, the average user today is an adult past college age.
“US users represent 10 percent of our global community, but their voice accounts for 25 percent of all views around the world,” Chew’s testimony said.
Chew says current versions of the app do not collect exact or approximate GPS data from US users.
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