TikTok CEO admits Chinese access to user data

Washington – TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has admitted that users’ data can be accessed by its Chinese parent company as it battles a potential ban in the United States, according to a report in British newspaper The Telegraph on Thursday.

In a bruising US Congress hearing, Chew told the House energy and commerce committee that staff in China currently have the ability to see TikTok users’ information.

The 40-year-old Singaporean said: “We rely on global interoperability, and we have  employees in China, so yes, the Chinese engineers do have access to global data.”

In a confrontational session, the TikTok chief failed to win over members of Congress, who are considering whether to give US President Joe Biden powers to ban the app, The Telegraph reported.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chairman, said: “Your platform should be banned. TikTok is a weapon by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to spy on you, manipulate what you see and exploit future generations.”

Congressman Neal Dunn added: “We don’t find you credible on these things,” prompting Chew to complain: “You have given me no time to answer these questions; I reject these characterizations.”

The Harvard-educated former banker told members of Congress that he had not spoken to a Chinese government official since taking charge two years ago, and that he had “no evidence” that TikTok users’ data had been accessed by the Chinese government.

When asked if ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has been able to spy on staff, he said: “I don’t think that spying is the right way to describe it.”

Chew said ByteDance employees in China will not have access to US users’ data by the end of the year, when it will complete a $1.5-billion plan to move data to IT giant Oracle. The company has not made equivalent promises about the United Kingdom and European users’ data.

The US government has told TikTok that it will ban it in the US if it is not spun off from its Chinese shareholders.

On Thursday, China threatened to block a forced sale of the app, saying it would “firmly oppose” the Biden administration’s plan to take the viral video app out of Chinese hands.

At the US  Congress hearing, Chew suffered unusually intense grilling by both Republicans and Democrats who fear that Beijing could subvert the site for spying, data harvesting and advancing a Chinese Communist Party agenda.

Lawmakers from the House energy and commerce committee afforded Chew no respite, frequently denying him opportunities to expand on his answers or tout the site’s huge global popularity with young people.

“ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government and is a private company,” Chew told lawmakers in his opening remarks, referring to TikTok’s China-based parent company.

“We believe what’s needed are clear transparent rules that apply broadly to all tech companies – ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns,” Chew added.

A ban would be an unprecedented act on a media company by the US government, cutting off the country’s 150 million monthly users from an app that has become a cultural powerhouse – especially for young people.

“TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned,” committee chair Rodgers said.

The US representatives also confronted Chew with dire examples of young users promoting suicide or dangerous stunts that have proved fatal and angered authorities globally.

“Your technology is literally leading to death,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis as he pointed to a family in the audience whose son was killed in a train tragedy that his family says was linked to his TikTok use.

Ahead of the hearing, the commerce ministry in Beijing said it would “firmly oppose” a forced sale, underlining that any deal or spin-off of TikTok would require approval by Chinese authorities.

“Forcing the sale of TikTok... will seriously undermine the confidence of investors from various countries, including China, to invest in the US,” added spokesperson Shu Jueting.

TikTok is under the gun of several pieces of legislation – including one bill backed by the White House that already paves the way for a ban – and has united lawmakers across the political divide.

“Mister Chew, welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress. We may not always agree on how to get there, but we care about our national security, we care about our economy and we sure as heck care about our children,” said congressman Buddy Carter, a Republican.

Supporters of TikTok and free speech activists criticized the hearing as political theater and urged against an outright ban.

“Taking a bludgeon to TikTok, and by extension to Americans’ First Amendment protections, is not the right solution to the risks that TikTok poses to the privacy of Americans and to the national security of the United States,” said Nadine Farid Johnson of PEN America, which defends free speech.

TikTok still hopes to appease the authorities.

Chew’s testimony promoted the company’s elaborate plan – known as Project Texas – to satisfy national security concerns, under which the handling of US data will be ring-fenced into a US-run division.

But lawmakers poured doubts on the project, saying it would do nothing to remove their concerns that TikTok was vulnerable to China.