The Chinese social network is accused of endangering the national security and health of its users. Their leader faced difficult questions from elected officials for five hours.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 23/03/2023 at 4:45 p.m., updated 23/03/2023 at 8:37 p.m
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Shou Zi Chew, the boss of TikTok. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / Portal
Shou Chew, the boss of TikTok, a subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance, struggled on Thursday to defend his application against stubborn American elected officials who had largely condemned the platform, which was threatened with a total ban in the United States. The hearing lasted more than five hours.
“I assume you’re going to say anything today to avoid that outcome,” said Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, which called the leadership for an audition. “We don’t believe you,” she said. “ByteDance is committed to the Chinese Communist Party and ByteDance and TikTok are the same.”
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The Singaporean leader, a Harvard graduate, was subjected to a particularly militant interrogation by representatives who, for once, presented a united front.
“Mr. Chew, welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress. We don’t always agree on the method, but we all want to protect our national security, our economy, and most importantly, our children,” said Republican Buddy Carter.
According to elected officials, the Chinese Communist Party uses TikTok for espionage and manipulation purposes. The White House, the European Commission, the Canadian and UK governments, and other organizations have recently banned their officials from using it.
“The fate of TikTok in the United States is more uncertain than ever following this grueling interrogation of Shou Chew,” Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg responded. “He couldn’t have said much to convince lawmakers that TikTok is not directly or indirectly controlled or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.”
” READ ALSO – Lobbying, political pressure… The big maneuvers ahead of the TikTok chief’s hearing at the American Congress
Shou Chew acknowledged that the platform still stored old US user data on servers accessed by Chinese employees. The chairman vowed that by the end of the year, all information about the country’s 150 million users would be managed exclusively by servers owned by the Texas-based Oracle group in the United States, but “today there is still data that we need to delete.”
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“The Chinese government does not own or control ByteDance. It’s a private company,” he said.
” ALSO READ – Espionage, propaganda, Beijing ties… the suspicions hanging over TikTok
Representative Anna Eshoo called his arguments “absurd”. “I don’t think there really is a private sector in China,” she said, referring to Chinese law that requires companies in the country to share their data if Beijing asks them to do so.
“I still believe that the communist government in Beijing will always have control and the ability to influence what you do,” pounded Democrat-elect Frank Pallone.
Concerns about young people’s mental health
Several laws supported by right and left are in the pipeline to ban TikTok. The White House hinted that if it stayed with ByteDance, TikTok would be banned.
But a sale, even if the parent company agrees, would be very complicated. The platform’s success is due in large part to its powerful recommendation algorithms, and “the algorithmic separation between TikTok and ByteDance is like an operation between Siamese twins,” notes Wedbush analyst Dan Ives for AFP.
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The Singaporean boss, a former Harvard student, also addressed many questions about TikTok’s responsibility for young people’s mental and physical health, from the risks of addiction to the dangerous challenges faced by users.
“Your company ruined her life,” said Gus Bilirakis, pointing to the parents of a dead teenager who had come to attend the hearing. They have filed a complaint against the platform, which they accuse of showing their son thousands of suicide videos without being asked.
“Your technology literally causes deaths,” the rep quipped. “You know that TikTok could be developed to minimize the harm it does to children, but the decision was made to addict children in the name of profit,” said representative Doris Matsui.
NGOs oppose the ban
The motion and several associations believe that a complete ban – as in India since 2020 – would come under censorship. “Baning TikTok would profoundly undermine the credibility of the United States as a defender of online freedom,” 16 NGOs said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday.
“Why so much hysteria about TikTok?” Democratic MP Jamaal Bowman asked during a press conference Wednesday night with content creators who came to defend their favorite network.
The platform poses the same risks for data protection, user health or misinformation as “Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter”, argued the elected official and called for an “honest conversation in all social networks”.