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That’s a wrap: key takeaways from today’s hearing
The first appearance in Congress for TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew stretched more than five hours, with contentious questioning targeting the app’s relationship with China and protections for its youngest users.
Here are some key themes focused on today.
TikTok’s relationship to China
Many members of the committee focused in on TikTok’s parent company ByteDance and executives there who lawmakers say have ties to the Chinese Communist party.
The committee members asked how frequently Chew was in contact with them, and questioned whether the company’s proposed solution, called Project Texas, would offer sufficient protection against Chinese laws that require companies to make user data accessible to the government.
At one point, Tony Cárdenas, a Democrat from California, asked Chew outright if TikTok is a Chinese company. Chew responded that TikTok is global in nature, not available in mainland China, and headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles.
Neal Dunn, a Republican from Florida, asked with similar bluntness whether ByteDance has “spied on American citizens” – a question that came amid reports the company accessed journalists’ information in an attempt to identify which employees were leaking information. Chew responded that “spying is not the right way to describe it”.
Project Texas and user data
In an effort to deflect concerns about Chinese influence, TikTok has pledged to relocate all US user data to servers outside of China through an effort titled Project Texas.
The company has promised to complete the effort by the end of the year, but some lawmakers questioned whether that is possible, with hundreds of millions of lines of source code requiring review in a relatively short amount of time.
“I am concerned that what you’re proposing with Project Texas just doesn’t have the technical capability of providing us the assurances that we need,” the California Republican Jay Obernolte, a software engineer, said.
Youth safety on TikTok
Another frequent focus of today’s hearing was safety of TikTok’s young users, as the app has exploded in popularity with the age group in recent years.
Today, a majority of teens in the US say they use TikTok – with 67% of people ages 13 to 17 saying they have used the app and 16% of that age group saying they use it “almost constantly”, according to the Pew Research Center.
Lawmakers cited reports that drug-related content has spread on the app, allowing teens to purchase dangerous substances easily online.
Chew said such content violates TikTok policy and that they are removed when identified.
“We take this very seriously,” Chew said. “This is an industry-wide challenge, and we’re investing as much as we can. We don’t think it represents the majority of the users’ experience on TikTok, but it does happen.”
Others cited self-harm, and eating disorder content have been spreading on the platform. TikTok is also facing lawsuits over deadly “challenges” that have gone viral on the app.
“We need you to do your part,” said congresswoman Kim Schrier, who is a pediatrician. “It could save this generation.”
With that, the blog is closed for today. Please see our full summary of the hearing here, and thanks for reading!
What’s next for TikTok?
It’s hard to know where we go from here.
Members of the committee appeared unwavering in their conviction that TikTok was a tool that could be exploited by the CCP – a conviction that was ultimately bolstered by today’s WSJ report indicating the Chinese government would not approve a sale of TikTok.
Lawmakers outside of the committee are also unconvinced. US Senators Mark R Warner and John Thune said in a statement that all Chinese companies “are ultimately required to do the bidding of Chinese intelligence services, should they be called upon to do so” and that nothing Chew said in his testimony assuaged those concerns. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet reiterated calls for an all out ban of TikTok, saying that Chew’s testimony is a departure from what Chew told Bennet in a private meeting weeks prior to the hearing.
“When he was in my office, the CEO admitted to me that my interpretation of Chinese law was correct, which was that any time the CPP wanted to say: we’re going to have the data turned over, that ByteDance, and therefore TikTok, had a legal obligation to turn that data over. Now he’s saying something different in his testimony to the committee.”
But a coalition of civil liberties, privacy and security groups including Fight for the Future, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the American Civil Liberties Union have written a letter opposing a ban, arguing that it would violate constitutional rights to freedom of expression.
“If passed by Congress and enacted into law, a nationwide ban on TikTok would have serious ramifications for free expression in the digital sphere, infringing on Americans’ First Amendment rights and setting a potent and worrying precedent in a time of increased censorship of internet users around the world,” the letter reads.
Where the coalition and many members of the House committee agree is that there is a pressing need for a federal data privacy regulation that protects consumer information.
Multiple members of the House committee on energy and commerce mentioned a proposed federal bipartisan privacy bill, the American Data Privacy Act, and the need for such a regulation to rein in TikTok. The coalition agrees: federal regulations could address the data-privacy issues the entire tech industry shares with TikTok.
“A comprehensive consumer privacy bill would limit data commodification, thereby dramatically increasing users’ security online. A robust privacy bill could address concerns not just at TikTok but across the multiple social media platforms,” the letter continues.
That’s a wrap: key takeaways from today’s hearing
The first appearance in Congress for TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew stretched more than five hours, with contentious questioning targeting the app’s relationship with China and protections for its youngest users.
Here are some key themes focused on today.
TikTok’s relationship to China
Many members of the committee focused in on TikTok’s parent company ByteDance and executives there who lawmakers say have ties to the Chinese Communist party.
The committee members asked how frequently Chew was in contact with them, and questioned whether the company’s proposed solution, called Project Texas, would offer sufficient protection against Chinese laws that require companies to make user data accessible to the government.
At one point, Tony Cárdenas, a Democrat from California, asked Chew outright if TikTok is a Chinese company. Chew responded that TikTok is global in nature, not available in mainland China, and headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles.
Neal Dunn, a Republican from Florida, asked with similar bluntness whether ByteDance has “spied on American citizens” – a question that came amid reports the company accessed journalists’ information in an attempt to identify which employees were leaking information. Chew responded that “spying is not the right way to describe it”.
Project Texas and user data
In an effort to deflect concerns about Chinese influence, TikTok has pledged to relocate all US user data to servers outside of China through an effort titled Project Texas.
The company has promised to complete the effort by the end of the year, but some lawmakers questioned whether that is possible, with hundreds of millions of lines of source code requiring review in a relatively short amount of time.
“I am concerned that what you’re proposing with Project Texas just doesn’t have the technical capability of providing us the assurances that we need,” the California Republican Jay Obernolte, a software engineer, said.
Youth safety on TikTok
Another frequent focus of today’s hearing was safety of TikTok’s young users, as the app has exploded in popularity with the age group in recent years.
Today, a majority of teens in the US say they use TikTok – with 67% of people ages 13 to 17 saying they have used the app and 16% of that age group saying they use it “almost constantly”, according to the Pew Research Center.
Lawmakers cited reports that drug-related content has spread on the app, allowing teens to purchase dangerous substances easily online.
Chew said such content violates TikTok policy and that they are removed when identified.
“We take this very seriously,” Chew said. “This is an industry-wide challenge, and we’re investing as much as we can. We don’t think it represents the majority of the users’ experience on TikTok, but it does happen.”
Others cited self-harm, and eating disorder content have been spreading on the platform. TikTok is also facing lawsuits over deadly “challenges” that have gone viral on the app.
“We need you to do your part,” said congresswoman Kim Schrier, who is a pediatrician. “It could save this generation.”
Today’s hearing stretched over five hours and included some tense exchanges on everything from TikTok’s relationship to China to the safeguarding of young users.
Here are some of the most striking images:
And with that, the hearing has come to a close. Stay tuned for some key takeaways from the congressional grilling of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew that lasted over five hours.
Here’s video of a key moment from earlier in the hearing.
Republican Kat Cammack showed Congress a TikTok video inciting violence towards the House energy and commerce committee, with the chair of the committee named in the captions. The video was uploaded to the platform 41 days ago and was still circulating despite company guidelines assuring users it would take down threatening content.
Shou Zi Chew was denied a chance to respond to Cammack’s claims by the chair. The video was removed from TikTok during the hearing.
Several Congress members took the opportunity on Thursday to question Chew about drug concerns on TikTok. Angie Craig of Minnesota referenced a Washington Post report from earlier this month that showed drugs are easily accessible on the platform.
“What are you going to do to move past these token efforts to prevent teenagers from accessing drugs on your platform?” she asked.
In the past TikTok has directed users who search certain drug-related hashtags, like “fentanyl” to resource pages. Craig suggested that users seeking drugs would likely not use hashtags, and that dealers are able to bypass such measures using different hashtag spellings and emojis.
“We do take illegal illegal drugs content on our platform very seriously – it violates our guidelines,” Chew said. He added that the company is working to more proactively find drug-related content.
Rick Allen also questioned Chew about drug-related content on TikTok, noting a 2021 investigation from the Wall Street Journal that revealed the app served an account purporting to be 13 years old more than 500 videos about drug use.
Chew said such content violates TikTok policy and that they are removed when identified.
“We take this very seriously,” he said. “This is an industry-wide challenge, and we’re investing as much as we can. We don’t think it represents the majority of the users’ experience on TikTok, but it does happen.”
Upon return from break, Congress questioning continued to take a harsh tone, hours into a grilling of Chew.
Texas representative Randy Weber was aggressive with his time on the floor, accusing TikTok of “indoctrinating” American kids with “divisive, woke, and pro-CCP content”.
“If this committee gets its way, TikTok’s time is up,” he said.
Shortly after, Morgan Griffith of Virginia accused TikTok of being an agent of the Chinese Communist party as well. “Is it part of the Chinese Communist party as everybody thinks, or are you still living in some mystical world?” he asked.
We are back in session, with testy questioning from Congress continuing. Stay tuned for more.
The hearing has entered recess and will reconvene in a bit. Stand by for updates.
Congresswoman Kim Schrier, who is a pediatrician, asked Chew a number of questions about TikTok’s impact on young users’ health.
The issue has been a central concern in today’s hearing, which is titled TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms. Schrier said TikTok has been particularly dangerous for children during the pandemic, when social media was already replacing in-person interactions.
“Social media is designed to be addicting, and your platform is the most addictive of all,” she said. “And this endless, mindless scrolling takes teams away from human relationships.”
She added that TikTok is keeping teens awake “well past their bedtimes” at a time when “sleep is critical for brain and physical development”. She also noted that there is a large amount of harmful content on the app encouraging eating disorders.
Chew said TikTok has worked with experts to tackle such content and is building models to identify and remove it more quickly. “Anything that glorifies eating disorders we remove,” he said. “It’s something we take very seriously.”
Previous Guardian reporting showed that hashtags promoting eating disorders frequently evaded bans on TikTok. Teens attempting to recover from disordered eating described being trapped in algorithmic bubbles that fed them dangerous content. Schrier encouraged Chew to expedite responses to these concerns.
“We need you to do your part,” she said. “It could save this generation.”
Republican representative Neal Dunn of Florida outright asked: “Has ByteDance spied on American citizens?”
The question comes after reports emerged in 2022 that the company accessed location data of reporters in an attempt to identify which employees were leaking information. Chew responded that “spying is not the right way to describe it”.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
