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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday morning as his company fights to stave off a possible ban within the U.S.
Chew plans to inform Congress that he strongly prioritizes the protection of users, particularly teens, and that TikTok will firewall U.S. user data from “unauthorized foreign access.” Chew also plans to say that the corporate “is not going to be manipulated by any government” and it should be transparent and permit independent monitors to evaluate its compliance.
TikTok has touted a fancy plan often known as Project Texas to assist ease U.S. concerns over its ownership. Under the plan, it should base its U.S. data operations domestically and permit its code to be reviewed and sent to the app stores by outside parties.
TikTok is owned by Chinese web giant ByteDance, and there are longstanding fears amongst U.S. policymakers that the Chinese government could force TikTok to show over the large trove of non-public data it collects as a part of its business model.
After two years of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in america, or CFIUS, the White House reportedly demanded last week that ByteDance sell TikTok. On Thursday, a Chinese commerce ministry spokeswoman said, “If the news is true, China will resolutely oppose it.”
The Biden administration has also thrown its support behind a latest bipartisan Senate bill that will give the Commerce Department the ability to ban TikTok in america. That bill and others prefer it in Congress have attracted scores of co-sponsors, each Democrats and Republicans.
TikTok became a viral sensation within the U.S. by allowing users — particularly young people — to create and share short videos. The corporate announced this week that it has 150 million users in america, a figure that, if confirmed, amounts to just about half of the U.S. population.
