[Photo Credit: Joon Park]
TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew testified for over five hours to lawmakers of both Republican and Democratic parties in the United States Congress on whether or not the Chinese-owned app is infringing on American privacy.

U.S lawmakers grilled Chew on TikTok’s potential to harm minors through its addictive tendencies and features to potentially upload dangerous posts, along with whether personal data from American users could be accessed by the communist Chinese government through its China-based owner, ByteDance, which is headquartered in Beijing. 

In Chew’s opening statement, he stated that the app had never shared data on users with the Chinese government and even in the event that officials from the Communist Party ever did request access to personal data in the future, the company would not comply with such  requests. 

As the congressional session proceeded, lawmakers from both parties asked Chew for information on the company's dealings with China, its failure to censor upsetting material that had allegedly led to deaths, and its strategies for gaining the trust of users in the United States, its largest market.

The congressional committee also questioned Chew regarding the precautions that TikTok is taking to safeguard minors using the app, stressing that the hearing was the most recent attempt to hold tech companies accountable for the harmful effects that they may have on society. 

Additionally, lawmakers underscored their concerns regarding TikTok’s parent firm, ByteDance, and its potential use by the Chinese government as a tool to further their own goals.

TikTok CEO Chew ripped a page out of the classic tech hearing playbook utilized by companies like Google and Facebook of being at ease and personable in response to an assault of challenging questions; however, he frequently inflated the accomplishments of TikTok and avoided providing real answers to difficult questions.

An example of this would be when Chew highlighted an article from Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog, which alleged that the group had conclusively discovered no link between TikTok data and the Chinese government while the the director of Citizen Lab immediately reacted on Twitter and criticized the representation.

Although there is no proof that the Chinese government is collecting data on Americans or purposefully influencing political behavior through its algorithms, TikTok's privacy practices are areas of concern.

Regarding privacy issues, TikTok has consistently pushed back by claiming that its American operations are cut off from its Beijing-based leadership and from China itself. 

According to reports that appeared earlier this month, the American government is pressuring ByteDance to sell TikTok and threatening the company with a nationwide app ban if it refuses.

A similar strategy was attempted by the White House during the Trump administration, but it failed; however, there was an unusual display of policy continuity as it was   revived by the Biden administration.

Prior to congressional hearing, Chew posted a video on the app to announce that TikTok had more than 150 million users in the U.S. which is a significant increase from its last reported numbers.