Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, is set to address lawmakers about the Chinese-owned short video app, which boasts over 150 million users in the United States. He aims to reassure them that TikTok has never shared, nor will it ever share, American user data with the Chinese government amid escalating national security concerns.
According to written testimony released by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Chew will assert, “TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made.”
Chew further emphasized that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is not controlled by any government or state entity, declaring, “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.”
Concerns regarding the potential transfer of U.S. user data to the Chinese government have intensified among TikTok’s critics, leading to increasing calls for a ban on the app from U.S. lawmakers. Recently, TikTok reported that the Biden administration has directed its Chinese owners to divest their interests in the app, warning of a possible ban otherwise.
Chew’s testimony argues that “bans are only appropriate when there are no alternatives. But we do have an alternative.”
The company stated it has invested over $1.5 billion in comprehensive data security measures known as “Project Texas.” Chew indicated that when this initiative is completed, “all protected U.S. data will be under the protection of U.S. law and under the control of the U.S.-led security team. Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or compel access to it.”
This month, TikTok began the process of deleting U.S. user-protected data from its data centers in Virginia and Singapore, having already started to transfer new U.S. data to the Oracle Cloud last year. Chew stated that this data transition is expected to be finished later in the year.
In his testimony, Chew noted that 60 percent of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors such as Blackrock, General Atlantic, and Sequoia, while about 20 percent is held by the company’s founders and another 20 percent is owned by its employees, which includes thousands of Americans.
On Monday, TikTok revealed that its monthly active user base in the U.S. has surpassed 150 million, a significant increase from the 100 million reported in 2020. Chew’s testimony pointed out that the average user is now an adult well beyond college age, adding that while U.S. users make up 10 percent of TikTok’s global community, their engagement accounts for 25 percent of total global views.
Additionally, Chew stated that the current versions of the app do not gather precise or approximate GPS information from U.S. users.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
