TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify(Opens in a brand new window) in a Congressional listening to set to happen on March 23.
The U.S. Home Vitality and Commerce Committee on Monday introduced the committee look by way of press launch(Opens in a brand new window).
TikTok’s ties to its China-based dad or mum firm, Bytedance, has acquired mounting scrutiny lately. The U.S. federal authorities lately banned(Opens in a brand new window) the cell viral video app from government-issued units.
Whereas many such congressional hearings on Massive Tech have centered on a couple of firm or platform within the trade, this will probably be one with a hyper deal with TikTok. The listening to will probably be centered on “TikTok’s client privateness and information safety practices, the platforms’ influence on youngsters, and their relationship with the Chinese language Communist Occasion,” the discharge states.
The Trump administration tried to outright ban the TikTok app from the U.S. in 2020 however was blocked from doing so on the time. To assist alleviate issues from lawmakers concerning its U.S. customers’ security, TikTok partnered(Opens in a brand new window) with Oracle so as to route U.S. site visitors by means of the U.S.-based firm’s servers.
Congressional Republicans have continued to set their sights on TikTok on account of its ties with the China-based Bytedance. With Republicans now accountable for the Home, one in all their first orders of enterprise seems to be to tackle the video platform that’s extremely in style with younger individuals in the USA.
This may not be TikTok’s very first look earlier than Congress as the corporate has despatched representatives to testify in earlier hearings. Nonetheless, this does mark its CEO’s first look.
UPDATE: Jan. 30, 2023, 5:09 p.m. EST TikTok supplied an announcement concerning the listening to to robotechcompany.com.
“We welcome the chance to set the report straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we’re making to handle issues about U.S. nationwide safety earlier than the Home Committee on Vitality and Commerce,” mentioned TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter. “We hope that by sharing particulars of our complete plans with the total Committee, Congress can take a extra deliberative method to the problems at hand.”
