TikTok CEO to face tough questions as support for U.S. ban grows

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TikTok’s chief executive will face tough questions from lawmakers on Thursday who are convinced the Chinese-owned short video app should be barred for being a potential national security threat to the United States.

CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before Congress will also cap a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value and supports free speech.

TikTok, which has more than 150 million Americans users, has faced sharp accusations that its U.S. user data would be shared with the Chinese government and that it fails to adequately protect children from harm.

TikTok has said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name “Project Texas” that currently has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and is contracted with Oracle (NYSE:) to store TikTok’s U.S. user data. It also says it rigorously screens content that could harm children.

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee hearing will be chaired by Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican who says she is unconvinced by TikTok’s security commitments. “It’s clear that TikTok will say anything to…ensure that it is not banned in the United States,” she told Fox News.

Some political experts say a TikTok ban could be damaging to Democrats who have used the platform to reach younger voters. Three House Democrats rallied with TikTok creators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in opposition to a ban.

“Why the hysteria and the panic and the targeting of TikTok?” asked Representative Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat from New York, at a news conference. “Let’s do the right thing here – comprehensive social media reform as it relates to privacy and security.”

Still, far more U.S. lawmakers want TikTok banned. Last week, TikTok said President Joe Biden’s administration demanded its Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a potential ban.

“Restricting access to a speech platform that is used by millions of Americans every day would set a dangerous precedent for regulating our digital public sphere more broadly,” said Jameel Jaffer, Knight First Amendment Institute executive director at Columbia University.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner said on Wednesday two additional senators backed his bipartisan legislation with Republican John Thune to give the Biden administration new powers to ban TikTok – raising the total to 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans.