TikTok CEO set to tell Washington Lawmakers

TikTok CEO set to tell Washington Lawmakers

TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, expects to talk to Washington lawmakers this week. The Beijing based app, ByteDance, insulates from Chinese authorities for Chinese users.

Who will he speak to specifically? The House Energy and Commerce Committee, a legislative committee leading geared towards keeping America progressive of next-generation communications & technology. He plans to describe the firewall between the company’s American operation and China, or what he calls “unauthorized foreign access.” Chew describes it as Chinese data requesting laws that compel companies like ByteDance to hand over information to the government about customers. 

“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Zi Chew plans to say, according to his written testimony released by the House committee last night.

National Concern of TikTok

Since TikTok started in 2016, the mission has been to inspire creativity and bring joy to users worldwide. Entertaining a diverse audience is what make TikTok special and Chew understands that. Initiatives that address national security concerns has been his focus coming in this week. Chew wants to make sure he is transparent with Congress so productive dialogue continue on data access and security.

“The bottom line is this: American data stored on American soil, by an American company, overseen by American personnel.” Data is stored by default in Oracle’s servers in Texas, where only vetted personnel has control access to the data.

White House officials fears Chinese regime could use TikTok to spy or blackmail millions of Americans who use the app. Even though there is no evidence that the Chinese government has attempted to access TikTok data, lawmakers continues to keep an eye on the social media sensation. Past episodes have occurred where Chinese employees of TikTok accessed data of U.S. users. The company has learned and Chew enacted a companywide disclosure because of it. And that was just last year.

Featured Image by Dado Runic/Reuters

data | national security | Tiktok | Washington

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