Shou Chew is slated to affirm his company’s safety and neutrality on the global stage.
In the last several years, multiple prominent lawmakers in the United States have expressed concerns about the proliferation of popular social media platform TikTok. As both TikTok itself and its parent company, ByteDance, are Chinese in origin, these lawmakers are concerned that the app’s ubiquity on American phones could present a potential security risk.
In an effort to assuage these concerns, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, is testifying before the United States Congress today. Ahead of his official statements, his prepared statements have been released, outlining his affirmations of his company’s security.
“Let me state this unequivocally,” Chew’s statements read. “ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.”
The use of TikTok has been banned on the phones of government officials in multiple US states, and some states are considering a blanket ban on the app for all its citizens. In response to this, Chew has cautioned that this won’t fix anything.
“We do not believe that a ban that hurts American small businesses, damages the country’s economy, silences the voices of over 150 million Americans and reduces competition in an increasingly concentrated market is the solution to a solvable problem,” Chew’s statements read.
LIVE: TikTok CEO Shou Chew testifies at a House hearing as Congress weighs banning the app in the US https://t.co/Fmv8MED8z0 https://t.co/0bV1o7Tudt
— Bloomberg (@business) March 23, 2023
Unfortunately for Chew, he will have his work cut out for him, as many Senators and Congress members are still deeply skeptical of the platform. “While I appreciate Mr. Chew’s willingness to answer questions before Congress, TikTok’s lack of transparency, repeated obfuscations, and misstatements of fact have severely undermined the credibility of any statements by TikTok employees, including Mr. Chew,” Senator Mark R. Warner, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement Wednesday.
