Under pressure to be fully banned or sold by the United States, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives on March 23. Lawmakers asked pointed questions and the hearing lasted nearly four hours.
Members of both parties in Congress and intelligence agencies say TikTok poses a national security threat, arguing the Chinese government can use it to spy on and manipulate Americans at will, an allegation that TikTok and Beijing deny.
At the hearing, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rogers of Washington State made it clear in her opening statement to TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi that TikTok collects any data imaginable and does not Manipulated by the CCP. “Your platform should be banned”.
TikTok can’t escape the CCP’s control
At the hearing, Zhou Shouzi tried to portray TikTok as a benign company that only provides public services, “just performing a public service.” However, he refused to disclose TikTok’s financial situation and its financial relationship with ByteDance, saying that it is a private company and it is not convenient to disclose such information publicly.
U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg: “The Communist Party doesn’t care about the United States and thinks that we have blocked their way to superpower. This is our concern. And you have a direct affiliation with ByteDance.” He asked whether ByteDance Access to data of US users?
Zhou Shouzi tried to clarify the relationship between TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, and tried to make some promises. For example, Zhou replied that the company is committed to building a firewall for US user data to prevent “all unwanted foreign access” and will maintain The content “is not subject to manipulation by any government”. In fact, a few hours before the hearing, the Ministry of Commerce of China stated that the sale or divestiture of TikTok involves the export of technology, and administrative licensing procedures must be performed in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations.
Rogers cited the Chinese government’s statement as evidence that TikTok will never escape its influence. “The Chinese Communist Party thinks they have the final say on your company. I have no confidence in your statement that ByteDance and TikTok are not subject to the Chinese Communist Party,” Rogers said.
It follows earlier reports that ByteDance employees improperly obtained data on TikTok’s U.S. users.
In April 2021, a Chinese government entity acquired 1% of the “golden shares” in ByteDance’s Beijing subsidiary, according to Qichacha, a business data platform. The subsidiary controls the licenses to operate TikTok’s sister app Douyin in China and news aggregator Toutiao.
The Wall Street Journal reported that gold shares have become a practical tool for Chinese officials to “align such companies with the Chinese Communist Party’s goals” without requiring the state to become a major shareholder.
TikTok’s leading critic, Senator Marco Rubio, believes the evidence against TikTok’s Chinese-controlled parent company, ByteDance, is overwhelming.
Congress worried about TikTok’s deep influence on young people
Another focus of committee members’ hearing on Thursday was whether TikTok is doing its due diligence in protecting teenage users in the United States. One-third of TikTok’s US users are between the ages of 10 and 19.
Zhou Shouzi said in his testimony that TikTok will work hard to ensure a safe environment for young people. It also claims that TikTok will set the registered accounts of teenagers under the age of 16 to private by default, does not allow direct messaging, and does not recommend short videos for teenagers.
However, lawmakers demonstrated deep concerns about TikTok at the hearing.
A lawmaker has shown the death of a 10-year-old girl who participated in a popular TikTok breath-holding challenge. The congressman questioned that TikTok has amplified “dangerous and life-threatening content” to children, but it can escape the impact of legal prosecution. On the day of the testimony, several mothers protested outside Congress calling for TikTok to be banned.
Another lawmaker showed a TikTok video of a pistol shooting. The video, which has been uploaded for 41 days, hints at Thursday’s hearing as well as the committee chair.
“You want us to believe you have the ability to keep the data safe, private and safe for 150 million Americans when you can’t even protect the people in this room?” asked Republican Rep. Kat Cammack.
Commentary: Weeks funded hearing performance fails
Investment bank Wedbush analyst Dan Ives rated Zhou Shouzi’s hearing performance on the 23rd as a failure. He said Zhou’s performance was a “mini-disaster” for TikTok at a critical juncture because it did not provide enough specific answers to the questions lawmakers asked.
He said that Zhou walked a tightrope in answering questions, and the many uncertainties surrounding the safe storage of data and ensuring that the CCP was not given access to the data of TikTok’s 150 million American consumers were not reassuring.
Ives said Zhou’s performance “could prompt more calls from lawmakers and the White House to ban TikTok in the U.S. if the company doesn’t plan to break up and force Chinese parent ByteDance to sell it.”
(Global Quitting the Party Service Center/Editor in Charge: Liu Mingxiang)