TikTok collects the same data as Facebook and Twitter. The CEO of the platform Shou Chew explained it in his hearing before Congress: During the hearing, which lasted about 5 hours, the manager was even heavily attacked by Republicans and Democrats, who expressed doubts and concerns about the protection of US users’ data via the connections between the platform and China.
“This is data that is commonly collected by numerous other companies,” Chew said, responding to a request from Congressman Frank Pallone not to collect health or location data. “We are committed to being very transparent to our users about what we collect. I don’t think we collect more than the majority of industry players,” he added, stressing, repeatedly interrupted by lawmakers, that the company is not an extension of the government Chinese. The latter, he assures, “does not have access to the data, never asked us for it and we never provided it”.
“To the Americans watching today, TikTok is a weapon used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you, manipulate what you watch, and exploit you for future generations,” said Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers. “Your platform should be shut down. I expect you to say anything today to avoid that outcome: let’s not take the bait. Celebrating the milestone of 150 million American users on TikTok underscores the urgency of action by Congress. Those who are 150 million Americans that the Chinese government can collect sensitive information about,” he said. After the long elaboration of the Republican’s allegations against TikTok, Chew asked if she could answer them. Just to say, “No, let’s move on.”
“TikTok is not available in China. We are based in Los Angeles and Singapore, we have 7,000 employees in the US today,” said the manager. “We listened to relevant concerns about possible unauthorized foreign access to US data and possible tampering with the US TikTok ecosystem. In our approach, we have never dismissed these concerns – we have addressed them with real action,” Chew said .
At the end of the day, the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinke: TikTok has to end, “one way or the other. There are different ways to do it,” he told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.