As calls intensify for the United States to ban – or at least further regulate – TikTok, the app’s CEO is now set to testify in front of Congress in March.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23, committee chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., confirmed in a statement Monday morning. News of the upcoming hearing was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
“ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data,” McMorris Rodgers wrote in part. “Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security, as well as what actions TikTok is taking to keep our kids safe from online and offline harms.”
“We’ve made our concerns clear with TikTok,” she added. “It is now time to continue the committee’s efforts to hold Big Tech accountable by bringing TikTok before the committee to provide complete and honest answers for people.”
In an emailed statement to Spectrum News, a TikTok spokesperson said there is “no truth” in the claims put forward by McMorris Rodgers that the app has made user data available to China, adding in part: “The Chinese Communist Party has neither direct nor indirect control of ByteDance or TikTok.”
“We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to address concerns about U.S. national security before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,” the spokesperson said about the hearing at large. “We hope that by sharing details of our comprehensive plans with the full Committee, Congress can take a more deliberative approach to the issues at hand.”
The hearing in March comes after a swath of governors banned TikTok from state-owned devices, a push that began with Republicans but soon expanded across the aisle. In late December, the Senate passed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act as part of the omnibus spending bill, which required TikTok be removed from all federal and government devices.
In response to the statewide bans, TikTok said in a statement it was “disappointed that so many states are jumping on the bandwagon to enact policies based on unfounded, politically charged falsehoods about TikTok.”
“It is unfortunate that the many state agencies, offices, and universities on TikTok in those states will no longer be able to use it to build communities and connect with constituents,” the statement continued.
Experts have, in recent months, issued separate warnings surrounding TikTok, owned by Chinese-based company ByteDance. FBI Director Chris Wray in December said control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn’t share our values.”
Wray said the FBI was concerned that the Chinese had the ability to control the app’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.” He also asserted that China could use the app to collect data on its users that could be used for traditional espionage operations.
Last week, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., put forward a bill that would ban TikTok from being downloaded on any U.S.-based devices, not only those issued by a governmental agency. The act would require President Joe Biden to block any transactions between TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and U.S. entities and a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailing ongoing threats to national security from TikTok.
Hawley, who spearheaded last year’s bill banning TikTok on federal devices, said in a statement the move was “a step in the right direction,” but added it is now “the time to ban [TikTok] nationwide to protect the American people.”
“TikTok poses a threat to all Americans who have the app on their devices,” he wrote. “It opens the door for the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans’ personal information, keystrokes, and location through aggressive data harvesting.”
A separate, bipartisan piece of legislation aiming to similarly ban TikTok from U.S. devices was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and House Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.
